Infowar

Deportation meme machine

The Trump administration's 4chan-ified social media arm is turning mass removals into one big joke.

Drew Harwell

Jun 20, 2025 — 1 min read

The White House shared this AI-generated Studio Ghibli meme of a woman who “wept when taken into custody.” (@WhiteHouse)

Full story: The White House wants you to laugh at its deportation memes

The White House has posted immigrant arrest and deportation videos onto X with song lyrics like “ice, ice, baby” and “hey, hey, goodbye.” The Department of Homeland Security posted a meme on Instagram showing Uncle Sam urging Americans to report all “foreign invaders.”

And Vice President JD Vance, told he could do the “funniest thing ever” by deporting a fashion writer who had criticized his clothing choices, responded with a movie clip of Jack Nicholson, nodding and smiling.

The Trump administration is increasingly playing its policy of mass deportation for laughs, pushing memes and jokes about the nationwide immigration crackdown to millions of Americans online.

White House officials have said their digital strategy is designed to show that President Donald Trump is delivering on his immigration promises in an entertaining, attention-grabbing way.

“The White House is always looking for creative, eye-catching ways to highlight the important work the Trump administration is doing — including deporting criminal illegal aliens,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “No one in their right mind would defend these sick criminals!”

But the posts have struck some viewers as tasteless, mean-spirited or dehumanizing. Jeff Giesea, a prominent MAGA organizer in 2016 who has since soured on Trump, said he shares some of the administration’s policy instincts but believes its “brute-force, spectacle-driven” approach could drive people away.

“They’ll say it’s obvious we’re joking or trolling, but I don’t think it’s morally defensible for a public official to threaten to deport someone in a meme,” he said. “This is not reality TV. It’s actual reality. You shouldn’t joke about issues that mess with people’s lives.”