Agency Prioritized Trump Propaganda Over Facts, Orange County Register Reports

A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson has come forward with claims that the agency instructed staff to engage in political messaging following President Trump’s return to office in 2025, marking what he described as a troubling shift in the agency’s communication practices.

Richard Beam, who left his position with ICE in December 2025, told reporters that after 20 years as a federal spokesperson, he was directed for the first time to prioritize political spin over factual information when responding to media inquiries about immigration operations.

“We were providing responses that spoke to the criminal history, but it didn’t always distinguish the difference between being charged and being convicted,” Beam said. “And at some point we would also see language in the responses that was political, specifically saying ‘thanks to the Trump administration, we’re doing X. Because of the Biden administration, we have this consequence.'”

This directive came during a routine weekly call with colleagues and supervisors at ICE’s Santa Ana field office, according to Beam. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began taking a more prominent role in overseeing ICE’s media responses, a significant departure from previous protocols.

“None of us have ever had these crazy experiences where the political appointees were so involved in what we did,” Beam recalled.

In response to Beam’s allegations, DHS dismissed his claims in a written statement on January 17: “This is nothing more than complaining by a former disgruntled employee. President Biden let in millions of criminal illegal aliens and unvetted individuals into the U.S. Now, under President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem we are delivering on the President’s mandate to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”

Beam joined ICE in 2021 after previously serving as a public affairs officer for Veterans Affairs in Long Beach since 2005. His commitment to public service was partly motivated by personal tragedy—his brother, a Navy veteran, died by suicide in the late 1990s after mental health struggles.

During his tenure at ICE, Beam initially felt proud of the agency’s mission, particularly its focus on removing individuals with serious criminal convictions. However, he noted that the profile of those being detained has shifted significantly. According to ICE data archived by the Deportation Data Project, the percentage of detainees with criminal convictions dropped from 78.2% in 2021-2022 to just 45.4% during the same period in 2024-2025.

Beam said he became increasingly uncomfortable with certain policy changes under the second Trump administration, such as ICE agents arresting people outside immigration courts. “I just felt less and less proud of removing people that were contributing to society in many ways,” he explained.

Despite his concerns about the political messaging directive, Beam said he attempted to maintain his journalistic integrity by clearly distinguishing between factual information he had personally verified and politically-motivated statements from Washington. “Did I push out information that I knew was not 100% accurate? Or the full truth? I would say that yes, I did,” Beam admitted.

His resistance appears to have had consequences. In August 2025, Beam received an email ordering his relocation to Washington, D.C. to work for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a Congressional Affairs Specialist. The memo stated that if he refused, he could face “removal from Federal service.”

Beam, who is partly of Mexican ancestry, declined the transfer, citing his son’s high school education and his son’s mother’s cancer treatments in Southern California. He questioned the legitimacy of the reassignment, particularly after learning ICE had posted a job listing for his position in Los Angeles shortly after notifying him of the transfer.

“That just tells me that the move to FEMA was a facade. I mean, if they’re recruiting for the job that I held only to move me at the taxpayers’ expense to Washington, D.C.,” he said. The transfer offer came as the Trump administration was actively reducing FEMA’s workforce by thousands.

Beam’s concerns about ICE’s communications practices come amid broader scrutiny of DHS public statements. Local law enforcement, news organizations, and judges have identified several instances where DHS accounts of incidents involving ICE or Border Patrol agents were contradicted by video evidence or official reports.

Since leaving ICE, Beam has watched with alarm as the agency became embroiled in controversy following two fatal shootings in Minnesota in early 2026. He described federal officers killing civilians as his “greatest fear come true.”

Though currently unemployed, Beam reflects on his departure with mixed feelings. “I’m in the curse phase, but I was the luckiest person in the world because I got to experience the best of working at ICE,” he said. “Would I have had the courage to leave if I hadn’t been forced to leave? We’ll never know.”