Trump’s Immigration Campaign Uses Military-Style Videos, Social Media to Shape Public Opinion

Nearly two months into President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign, the administration has launched a sophisticated media strategy portraying Chicago as a city overrun by violent criminals and at war with federal authorities.

The Department of Homeland Security’s social media accounts feature Hollywood-style videos of nighttime raids, agents with weapons, and dramatic arrests of what they call “criminal illegal aliens.” The high-production content presents a stark narrative of government heroes battling dangerous forces – but experts say this portrayal often distorts the reality on the ground.

“By propaganda, what I mean is mass political persuasion,” said Nick Cull, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism who co-edited “Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia.”

The administration’s approach employs several classic propaganda techniques: military imagery projecting government strength, exaggerated language describing peaceful protests, elevation of leaders like Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, pop culture references targeting younger audiences, and partnerships with right-wing social media influencers to spread their message.

This effort coincides with a recruitment campaign appealing to patriotism while portraying immigrants as threats. One DHS ad shows shadowy figures with swords in fog, calling on Americans to “defend your hearth and home” because “the enemies are at the gates.”

Producing Raids as Entertainment

A September 30 DHS video of a South Shore neighborhood raid begins with the sound of helicopter blades, flashlights shining on an apartment building, and action movie music. The footage shows men in tactical gear with large weapons storming the complex, climbing ladders, smashing doors, and emerging with Latino men in zip-ties.

What the video doesn’t show: terrified residents, including U.S. citizens, who described flash grenades in hallways and people, including children, pulled from their apartments in the middle of the night. Some were naked. A neighbor hid a screaming 7-year-old girl and her mother.

“There’s movie-type music, there’s zooming in, you’re moving through a rapid-edited action sequence,” Cull explained. “It’s like outtakes from a motion picture.”

Boston University assistant professor Joan Donovan, co-author of “Meme Wars,” noted that editing out the “tears and screams of the children and families” helps DHS “normalize” militaristic activity for the public.

Security footage obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times shows how these videos are created: a camera crew of at least nine people, some wearing DHS Office of Public Affairs vests, filmed the entire raid.

Gil Kerlikowske, a former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, called the production values excessive. “It’s abhorrent to me to see the taxpayer dollar being used in this way, in propaganda and show,” he said.

Military Imagery Projects Strength

Another high-intensity raid video from suburban Elgin begins with dimly lit scenes and lyrics from a cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”: “Load up on guns, bring your friends.”

The footage shows agents led by Bovino and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem driving past the Chicago skyline and Trump Tower – some hanging off trucks – before cutting to a helicopter view of a target house 40 miles from downtown Chicago. The video captures an explosion as the house’s door is blown open, followed by men being arrested as electronic music plays.

“There’s no operational need for any of these techniques,” Kerlikowske said. “This is all about showboating.”

Cull described the approach as “fetishization of the military” designed to sell the raids as making “America safe again” – a message that can be deployed in any city. The video doesn’t mention that two U.S. citizens were among those detained.

Influencers Amplify the Message

Right-wing internet personality Benny Johnson, who has more than 12 million total followers across social platforms, produced a 12-minute highlight reel beginning with “What’s up guys! Today, we’re going on an ICE raid with Sec. Kristi Noem through Chicago.”

Johnson, who lives in Florida, begins his day at Trump Tower with Noem before donning a Border Patrol vest during a raid. He characterizes daily protesters outside a suburban ICE facility as “agitators” and a “terrorist element” – language a federal judge has found questionable enough to order limits on the use of force against demonstrators.

“To dignify them with the vocabulary you use to describe the seasoned killers of ISIS is just absurd,” Cull observed. But the technique works, with commenters praising ICE and thanking them for their service.

Another social media personality, Ben Bergquam – who has promoted the false “great replacement theory” and appears with Trump adviser Steve Bannon – was given access to ride along with ICE officers. His behind-the-scenes video allows the government to “borrow credibility” from someone his audience trusts, Cull explained.

Creating Heroic Characters

The campaign has turned Bovino and Noem into main characters, with stylized videos showing Bovino giving military hand signals from vehicles and posing for glamour shots. DHS posts claim he is “putting his life on the line to protect our citizens, and no amount of radical terror or anarchy will stop us.”

Bovino has become highly visible, with his name displayed on his uniform while other agents remain unidentifiable. He and Noem have posed for photos on rooftops, in front of protesters and along the Chicago River.

“In an authoritarian system, you have identifiable leaders, and the leaders have answers,” Cull noted. “It’s a playbook that, to be 100% honest, I recognize from looking at Roman emperors rather than American presidents.”

The diverging portrayals of immigration enforcement have created what Cull calls “parallel universes” in American perception – a heroic battle against dangerous criminals for some viewers, and government overreach for others.