Overview
- Internal ICE messages reviewed by the Post show officials were told to “flood the airwaves” with images of arrests at the direction of White House aides.
- ICE public affairs staff embedded with enforcement teams, captured cinematic scenes, and rushed edits to push clips on social platforms for viral reach.
- DHS brought in nontraditional content creators — including a MAGA lifestyle influencer, an L.A. wedding videographer, and a Canadian-born actor — to produce arrest videos.
- Some posts used popular songs without permission, drawing rebukes from artists such as Sabrina Carpenter and SZA, as DHS said Trump administration lawyers had pre-approved the content.
- Chats show pressure to emphasize a “worst of the worst” narrative, with officials discussing rewrites and shelving content that failed to match the desired message.