Shockwaves are rippling through Washington after a scathing new exposé uncovers a dramatic push by ICE to showcase arrest footage all over social media.
Forget the old-school, businesslike press releases — the internet is now being blitzed with viral videos, eye-catching memes, and the hottest online crazes, all in service of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
According to fresh reporting by The Washington Post, ICE’s public affairs unit — reporting up to Secretary Kristi Noem at the Department of Homeland Security — has partnered directly with the Trump White House to craft and unleash these provocative clips, sparking outrage among critics. Thousands of jaw-dropping internal ICE communications reviewed by the Post paint a frank picture of the operation.
David Lapan, once the chief spokesperson at DHS under Trump’s first term and a former Marine Corps colonel, didn’t mince words. ‘In the past, we stuck to facts and kept things measured,’ he explained. ‘This crosses the line into raw propaganda — clearly meant to stoke fear. We never reduced critical police actions to memes like this before. These are serious, life-and-death operations, not TikTok content.’
Under Secretary Noem’s watch, ICE apparently received a top-down directive from the White House in June: multiply the arrest coverage at breakneck speed. ‘We need to go all-in, flood social media and press with ICE arrest images, as ordered by the White House,’ read one explosive message between staffers revealed by the Post.
Behind the scenes, video producers and higher-ups debated how to package footage for maximum impact — sometimes sidestepping details about the detained individuals. ‘We made a bunch of arrests today, and I’m not even sure about their full backgrounds other than being here illegally,’ one producer messaged. Another ICE official replied, ‘Let’s highlight our hard work instead of focusing on the specific charges.’
And the choreography didn’t stop there. Leaked chats detailed ICE staffers debating background music to make the arrest footage pop. ‘Think country hits — Houston vibes,’ suggested one staff member. ‘Let’s go harder,’ the assistant public affairs director countered, rallying for a more intense soundtrack.
The result? ICE’s trending content has set off a firestorm online, especially after clips used chart-topping tracks like Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Juno’ and SZA’s ‘Big Boys’ — without artists’ approval. Furious, Carpenter slammed the use as ‘evil and disgusting,’ while SZA accused the administration of provoking public outrage.
With these slick, highly produced arrest videos flooding timelines, critics warn that ICE risks turning grave enforcement actions into viral stunts — and that, they say, is no laughing matter.
