Pro-Trump Influencer Benny Johnson is being sued for defamation by ICE protesters

Demonstrators gather within the "free speech zone" near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing and detention facility on October 31, 2025, in Broadview, Ill. Jamie Kelter Davis/Getty Images hide caption

Pro-Trump media figure Benny Johnson is being sued for defamation by protesters who say he falsely portrayed them as "left-wing terrorists" who had assaulted federal officers.

One plaintiff, Kyle Frankovich, had never heard of Johnson before the podcaster and online influencer posted video of Frankovich and a row of other protesters detained outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Ill. last October. "These individuals assaulted ICE officers as they were trying to clear out the area behind us over here," said Johnson in one video.

Johnson made the videos while embedded with then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and then Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino.

Johnson knew that wasn't true, according to a lawsuit filed by Frankovich and another protester on Friday. Frankovich was observing and recording video of the ICE agents from a designated "free speech" area when he was thrown to the ground and arrested.

He told NPR he remembers being filmed by what appeared to be civilians in reflective vests. "I'd seen Kristy Noem being walked past and I kind of put it together at that point that 'Oh, they're filming propaganda. They're using us as props," said Frankovich.

He and his co-plaintiff, Maureen Foody, were released without charges.

Images of Frankovich with his hands zip-tied behind him, with his distinctive tattoos visible, were later used in recruiting material by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.