Overview

• Official White House X and Instagram accounts posted an illustration titled “Deported Edition Labubu” showing a handcuffed detainee with the caption in Spanish, “depredador sexual arrestado por ICE.”
• The image referenced Cristian Soto-Galeano, a Guatemalan detainee in New Orleans with dwarfism whom ICE says previously served two years for indecent behavior with a juvenile.
• ICE New Orleans announced his arrest on Sept. 8, and ICE’s main account reshared the illustration with the message in Spanish, “We stand ready to face any challenge, big or small.”
• Online reactions condemned the posts as dehumanizing propaganda and noted that Labubu, a collectible usually associated with cuteness, was turned into a stigmatizing symbol.
• Coverage places the episode within a broader White House effort to deploy memes, illustrations, and AI-style designs to advance deportation policy, with no retraction or apology reported.