The Trump administration is recruiting immigration officers using ads that echo neo-Nazi and far right imagery, sparking claims it is dog whistling to extremists.
Ten months into President Donald Trump’s mass deportation strategy, the Department of Human Services has been pushing out recruitment and promotional content that critics fear could escalate racial hate and violence towards immigrants.
Wendy Via from the Global Project Against Extremism and Hate, which has been tracking the department’s content, said the posts have gone viral among far right groups such as the Proud Boys, who “celebrate the agency’s tone as validation.”
One video, for example, recently posted on the department’s X account featured a white supremacist character known as Moon Man or “Mac Tonight”, alongside images of Trump as a younger man and text that says: “LIFE AFTER ALL CRIMINAL ALIENS ARE DEPORTED” and “the future is bright”.
But Moon Man is a character that the Anti Defamation League has included on its list of “hate symbols”, which the organization says are most frequently used by a variety of white supremacist groups and movements.
Another recent DHS social media post featured an image of nine Black illegal immigrants caged in crystals—reminiscent of a popular video game Elder Scrolls, in which souls are trapped in a crystal prison.
https://t.co/CNjHzjnoCO pic.twitter.com/QDOAwFcfiZ
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) October 22, 2025
But crystals are also common iconography among extremists groups such as the Ohio Proud Boys, who have posted images of Trump walking past liberals trapped in them, with the caption “all those who doubted Trump… They say the first 10,000 years in the crystals are the longest.”
One user on Telegram, where extremists are known to congregate, also depicts Vice President JD Vance imprisoning MAGA enemies using crystals, alongside the caption: “We’re putting all the libtards in the crystals, boys.”
DHS also posted a recruitment video this month with footage of federal agents arresting ICE protesters in Oregon featured MGMT’s track “Little Dark Age”—a song has been commandeered by Neo-Nazi groups and white supremacists since Trump’s first term.
The video was taken down after the band said they had not authorized the use of the track and wanted nothing to do with the department’s “propaganda.”
Critics fear that some of the imagery being used could exacerbate tensions across the U.S. over Trump’s deportation policy.
“The danger is that this kind of recruitment campaign is going to attract people who have a probability of getting into this job for the wrong reasons,” Via told the Daily Beast.
DHS, run by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, declined to comment about its content, which comes at a time when the department is already under fire for its heavy-handed tactics.
In recent weeks, for example, ICE officers have been filmed tackling a young mother at a federal courthouse in Manhattan; using tear gas against residents in a Chicago neighborhood and breaking the car windows of suspected illegal immigrants.
However, in an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday, President Donald Trump defended ICE, saying: “I think they haven’t gone far enough.”
“You have to get the people out,” he added. “Many of them are murderers. Many of them are people that were thrown out of their countries because they were, you know, criminals.”
The administration also argues that Americans gave Trump a mandate to carry out his deportation policy, which was the centerpiece of his reelection campaign.
In order to ramp up enforcement, DHS has embarked on an aggressive campaign to hire more ICE officers, including offering $50,000 sign-on bonuses and removing age limits so anyone 18 or older can join.
But the latest concerns are not the first time the department’s social media content has ignited Nazi comparisons.
Last week, DHS put out a security promo video featuring Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino in a long black trench coat, star collar pins, and slicked crewcut hair.
The video was posted the day Bovino was ordered to attend daily court check-ins by U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis after being accused of throwing tear gas at protesters with no justification.
But viewers immediately likened his look to an SS-era uniform, sharing side-by-side images of Adolf Hitler and his officers.
“If you think the calls of fascism and authoritarianism are hyperbole, pause and watch this video,” California Gov. Newsom, wrote on X.
“They aren’t even trying to hide who they are.”
While the department declined to address the latest criticisms, it has previously pushed back over similar concerns, telling CNN earlier this year: “Calling everything you dislike ‘Nazi propaganda’ is tiresome.”
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