ICE Ramps Up Social Media Presence with White House-Backed Arrest Videos

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has significantly expanded its social media strategy, pushing out videos of immigrant arrests across platforms in close coordination with the White House, according to an extensive new investigation by The Washington Post.

The report, based on thousands of internal messages between ICE officials, reveals how the agency has embraced a more aggressive and provocative social media approach under President Donald Trump’s second administration, departing from traditional government communication standards.

Since June, ICE officials have been instructed to “flood the airwaves” with imagery of arrests nationwide, following direct White House guidance. This directive represents a marked shift from previous administrations’ more restrained public affairs strategies.

“We were supposed to present the facts, not hype things up. But this veers into propaganda, into creating fear,” said David Lapan, a retired Marine Corps colonel who served as Department of Homeland Security press secretary during Trump’s first term. “We didn’t have this meme-ification of various serious operations, these things that are life or death… It’s not a joking matter. But that’s the way they’re treating it now.”

The messaging shift comes as DHS, now under Secretary Kristi Noem’s leadership, aligns its communications with President Trump’s immigration enforcement priorities. Over the past year, ICE and other federal agencies have increasingly utilized memes and popular social media trends to promote the administration’s agenda.

Internal communications obtained by the Post reveal how ICE staff strategically frame arrest content. In one exchange, when a video producer noted that several dozen people had been arrested quickly without clear information about their criminal backgrounds “beyond being in the U.S. illegally,” an ICE official responded: “I’d like to try to put this out without focusing on the aliens or their crimes, but to demonstrate that we’re out working hard.”

The videos have sparked controversy, particularly when they incorporate popular music without permission. Recent productions featuring songs like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Juno” and SZA’s “Big Boys” prompted swift backlash from the artists. Carpenter condemned the use of her music as “evil and disgusting,” while SZA accused the administration of “rage-baiting artists for free promo.”

Beyond video content, the Post’s investigation found ICE public affairs officers have been directed to adopt more aggressive language in press releases and online posts. One unnamed ICE official told the newspaper that “if the truth of the operation does not match the narrative of the ‘worst of the worst,’ it’s going to be killed,” suggesting a potential disconnect between enforcement realities and messaging priorities.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended the administration’s approach in comments to The Independent, stating that “President Trump’s immigration policies are saving lives, and we’re proud of it.” She criticized the previous administration’s handling of immigration issues and characterized internal criticism as complaints from “career DHS bureaucrats” about “finally having to do their jobs.”

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the Post that the White House has given DHS and ICE the “autonomy to create content that is effectively reaching the American public.” She also noted that social media posts using copyrighted material had received legal approval from the administration’s lawyers.

The shift in ICE’s communications strategy reflects the administration’s broader emphasis on immigration enforcement, positioning it as a central policy priority. However, media and government ethics experts have raised questions about whether the approach crosses the line from informational to propagandistic, particularly as government agencies increasingly adopt social media tactics more commonly associated with political campaigns or commercial marketing.