IL Student Appears To Punch Pro-ICE Demonstrator At School In Viral Video

LAKE ZURICH, IL — Millions of users across social media have viewed a video that appears to show a Lake Zurich High School student punching a person who is demonstrating in support of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The person who was apparently punched in the video is a social media content creator with over 100,000 followers across multiple platforms whose recent uploads have mainly consisted of prank videos. Patch is not naming or publishing images of either of the young people involved, as they may be minors.

“Today, students at my high school in Chicago held an Anti-ICE protest,” states the caption of the video on TikTok, where it has been viewed over 11 million times. “I was the only one that decided to hold a sign that said ‘I Love ICE.’ Instead of allowing me to express my opinion, I was assaulted — Just for standing up for law enforcement. What is happening to America?”

The video, apparently filmed using Ray-Ban Meta glasses, shows students walking through the hallway at the entrance to Lake Zurich High School. The person recording is heard loudly stating his support for ICE and law enforcement.

“Yeah, I am going to punch you in the face,” one of the passing students says.

“You’re going to punch me?” responds the person filming.

“Yes,” says the student.

“Then you’re going to get in trouble for that,” the person filming replies.

“OK,” says the student, before swinging toward the camera.

A security guard intervenes, and the person filming tells the student, “Chill out bro … I’m going to peacefully stand here and support my beliefs.”

“You can go peacefully (expletive) yourself,” says the student.

After that exchange, officers arrive and the person filming confirms with an official that it is alright for them to be protesting.

Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95 Executive Director of Communications & Community Relations Jean Malek declined to provide information when asked about the incident by Lake & McHenry County Scanner, citing confidentiality. Police did not respond to a request for details from the outlet.

The top comments on the TikTok video generally supported the student who threw the punch or insulted the person filming, although some commenters decried the use of violence.

Other recent uploads from the content creator who posted the video are recordings of pranks targeting employees and customers at businesses, such as throwing loaves of bread in the carts of unsuspecting shoppers from several feet away at a grocery store or trying to redeem fake coupons for free items.