Fact Check: Anti-ICE protester wearing Army fatigues in video isn't active duty
A video clip authentically shows an active duty U.S. military member defying deployment orders by participating in anti-immigration enforcement protests in Dallas, Texas, in June 2025.
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Context:
The Department of Defense Rapid Response X account said the woman seen in the Dallas video served in the U.S. Army from November 2010 to August 2014 and in the Army Reserves from August 2014 to June 2020. In other words, she wasn't on active duty in June 2025.
On June 11, 2025, BreakThrough News, an independent news website based in New York City, posted a video (archived) showing a woman wearing Army fatigues at an anti-immigration enforcement protest in Dallas, Texas, on June 9, 2025.
(X user @BTnewsroom)
BreakThrough News said the video showed a "military member" speaking out against U.S. President Donald Trump's deployment of troops to Los Angeles. The woman in the video said:
We are not pawns for Donald Trump's agenda. Why now? It's because the military was called upon innocent protesters. We, in our oath to serve, we serve the people of the United States, the Constitution. These constitutional rights are being stripped and just denied, and the military will not be pawns to that. So I'm calling upon the conscience of military members who served previously and now. We have a conscience, we have a mind, and we have a duty and moral obligation to say no and resist evil.
The video had more than 5 million views at the time of this writing. Claims started circulating online on X (archived), Facebook (archived), Threads (archived) and Instagram (archived) that the woman in the video was an active duty U.S. soldier or Marine and had defied orders by participating in the anti-immigration enforcement protest in Dallas.
However, according (archived) to the Department of Defense (DOD) Rapid Response X account, the woman in the video was not an active duty soldier. Carmen Colado served in the U.S. Army from November 2010 to August 2014 and in the Army Reserves from August 2014 to June 2020, according to the DoD. Colado described herself as a "U.S. Army veteran" and a "Former military intelligence analyst" on her Instagram page.
The DOD Rapid Response account said of Colado that: "She does not speak for nor reflect the U.S. Army." Therefore, we rate this video claim as miscaptioned.
We reached out to the U.S. Army Public Affairs to ask whether it had or would contact Colado about her appearance in the video while wearing an Army uniform and whether the appearance broke any army rules that might apply to retired service members and await a reply.
Colado, who said her mother immigrated to the U.S. from Honduras in the 1990s, became a filmmaker, director and writer after leaving the Army.
Social media users speculated that Colado had broken military rules by appearing and speaking at the protest while wearing an Army uniform (archived) (archived) (archived).
According to "DOD Instruction 1334.01 Wearing of the uniform," former service members may wear their uniform during specified activities or occasions. The directive did not list protests as a specified activity.
The directive also said that retired service members must not wear their uniform "during or in connection with furthering political activities, private employment, or commercial interests, when an inference of official sponsorship by DoD or the Military Service concerned for the activity or interest may be drawn."
Likewise, "Directive 1344.10 on Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces" says that members not on active duty "should avoid inferences that their political activities imply or appear to imply official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement."
@BTnewsroom. "BREAKING: After Trump Deployed Marines to LA, This Military Member Joined an Anti-ICE Protest in Dallas, Declaring, 'We Won't Be Pawns in Stripping Away Constitutional Rights.'." X, 11 June 2025, https://x.com/BTnewsroom/status/1932613631977374141.
"Carmen Colado." Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/default_epicurean/.
"Carmen Colado | Art Department, Director, Writer." IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13839390/. Accessed 12 June 2025.
@DODResponse. "Correction: This Individual Served in the U.S. Army from November 2010 to August 2014 and Was Then in the Army Reserves from August 2014 to June 2020." X, 11 June 2025, https://x.com/DODResponse/status/1932840641316176326.
Penrod, Virginia S. DOD INSTRUCTION 1334.01 WEARING OF THE UNIFORM. U.S. Department of Defense, 13 July 2021, https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/133401p.pdf.
Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces . U.S. Department of Defense, 19 Feb. 2008, https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodd/134410p.pdf.
Quezada, Chelsea. "Empowering Dreams: A Year Later with Mitú x Walmart's Filmmaker Mentorship Program Alumni Carmen Colado and Ernest Govea." Mitú, 26 Feb. 2024, https://archive.ph/ngBxY#selection-275.1-275.15.
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