ICE Recruitment Campaign Under Scrutiny

Upon initial inspection, the social media posts being utilized in the current recruitment campaign by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may not seem out of the ordinary.

These posts, designed to encourage Americans to join ICE, feature the same strong patriotic imagery commonly associated with the online communication style of the Trump administration.

However, to those familiar with far-right ideologies, there is a distinct tone in the language of these posts that resonates with extremist groups.

“I find it strangely familiar as someone who has been monitoring the white nationalist and neo-Nazi movements for nearly ten years,” explained Hannah Gais, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Centre, an organization dedicated to tracking right-wing extremist activities.

“It is unsettling to witness such messaging coming from a government entity.”

Gais is among several experts in the U.S. who have noticed obscure references in the ICE recruitment posts that seem to be nods to extremists.

This raises the question: Who is ICE targeting with these recruitment efforts?

Referencing Controversial Literature

Since regaining power, U.S. President Donald Trump has overseen a significant expansion of ICE, the agency under the Department of Homeland Security responsible for enforcing immigration laws within the country.

With a target of deporting one million individuals annually, ICE has faced accusations of racial profiling and excessive force during its intensified arrest operations.

Following the enactment of the “Big Beautiful Bill” last summer, which allocated $8 billion US to ICE for hiring additional agents, a social media outreach campaign was initiated.

On August 11, 2025, ICE shared an image on its social media platforms featuring Uncle Sam at a crossroads accompanied by the phrase “Which way, American man?”

This post mirrored a meme popular among right-wing figures who use the phrase “Which way, Western man?” to contrast liberal ideals with their preferred beliefs.

However, the phrase originates from the title of an antisemitic book authored by William Gayley Simpson, published by a neo-Nazi press in the late 1970s.

This book has long been embraced by white supremacist groups.

Utilizing White Supremacist References

While the language used could be dismissed as coincidental, subsequent posts raised concerns.

In October, the Department of Homeland Security, overseeing ICE, shared an image of George Washington on horseback with a link to the ICE recruitment page. The tagline this time read “America for Americans.”

This slogan was part of a xenophobic speech by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1916 and later adopted by the Ku Klux Klan, according to America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States by Harvard history professor Erika Lee.