A new kind of government messaging is drawing outrage from immigration advocates.
Critics said some social media posts from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the White House are mean memes, calling them inappropriate and dehumanizing.
Some of the ads look like a viral TikTok video, but the slickly produced video did not come from an influencer but from the U.S. government.
One of the DHS social media posts shows an 80s-style ad for a van with the copy that reads, “Think about how many criminal illegal aliens you could fit in this bad bay.”
In another post, the Department of Homeland Security paired a feel-good pop anthem with footage of immigrants being placed on planes, describing it as a “one-way Jet2 holiday.”
The voice-over artist responded, calling the ad “disgusting.” She said she had no idea her voice would be used to mock deportations.
In July, DHS posted idyllic Americana paintings from Morgan Weistling alongside the slogans like “Protect the Homeland” and “Remember your Homeland’s Heritage.”
The artist also condemned the use of his work in anti-immigration ads, saying he did not give DHS permission to use his painting.
“They even re-titled it,” Weistling said, adding the actual title of the artwork DHS used is “A Prayer for a New Life.”
Other posts also featured religious scripture with slogans like “foreign invaders,” an AI image showing a group of alligators sporting black ICE caps, promoting the Alligator Alcatraz detention center, and a cartoon mocking recently arrested immigrants.
Critics said social media is being weaponized to evoke “Manifest Destiny” and white nationalist themes.
“The memes are mean,” Angelica Salas, the executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, said, adding the social media posts are racist and dangerous.
“That propaganda, those messages, those memes, the social media, the commercials – All have a purpose to create a terrorizing environment for our people,” Salas said. “We don’t deserve this.”
The Department of Homeland Security has defended the campaign as “bold and effective,” claiming it’s part of a digital strategy to deter illegal immigration.
“The media’s continuing to ignore American victims to do the bidding of criminal illegal aliens is tasteless, mean-spirited and dehumanizing,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
Ramesh Srinivasan, a UCLA professor and an expert on the intersection of technology and society, said he thinks the “mean memes” reflect the aggressive actions the department is taking in the streets with recent arrests.
“The way DHS and ICE are messaging and signaling their intentions. And their actions is incredibly and brutally, in my mind, consistent with their actual actions,” said Srinivasan.
The UCLA professor said the memes also play into social media algorithms that promote division.
“We are often living in this world where we are presented with extreme views, but now that’s also our real world,” Srinivasan explained.
While critics like Salsas said the social media posts are waste of tax dollars, DHS plans to spend even more, with about $200 million allocated for ads that are “hyper-targeted, including through social media, text message and digital to reach illegal immigrants in the interior of the United States, as well as internationally.”
The recent budget passed by lawmakers allocated $165 billion for DHS.