The Department of Homeland Security is warning that a prankster set up a fake tipline to expose people who are trying to report immigrants.
Nashville-based comedian Ben Palmer set up a parody website where people could supposedly turn in immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to reporting by the Guardian.
DHS, which is the parent agency for ICE, has responded by issuing a “Be on the Lookout” alert for law enforcement nationwide. The Guardian reported that the DHS bulletin was posted by its Nashville field office in February.
Palmer has been exposing people who think they’re handing over immigrants to ICE, which detains and deportsundocumented immigrants. Videos with recordings of the calls “have garnered millions of views on TikTok and YouTube,” according to the Guardian.
One of the videos features a kindergarten teacher trying to dime out one of her students’ parents.
“They seem like nice people or whatever,” the teacher said to Palmer on the call, according to reporting by the Washington Post. “But if they’re taking up resources from our county, I’m not into illegal people being here.”
The Washington Post added that Palmer’s faux tip line has reeled in nearly 100 submissions from people trying to turn in their “neighbors, ex-lovers, Uber drivers, strangers they saw at the grocery store.”
Palmer spoke to the Washington Post on the condition that it not name his website to keep the joke going. Other news outlets have followed suit.
According to the Guardian, the DHS bulletin doesn’t mean an investigation is open on Palmer or that he could be arrested.
“This document is an internal memo shared for awareness purposes only,” a DHS spokesperson told the Guardian.
“To be honest, for me, it’s the best of both worlds,” Palmer said, according to the Guardian. “I don’t get arrested, but I still get to say the Department of Homeland Security created a document about me, which is…in my line of work, I always look at these things as more like certificates, badges of honor.”
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