A spokesperson for U.S. Border Patrol has lastly issued an announcement concerning the antisemitic social media video that the company posted in August, however was simply deleted this week. And in typical Trumpian style, the assertion is extremely whiny.
Border Patrol, which is a part of the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety, first posted a 13-second video to Instagram and Fb again in August that used audio from the 1995 Michael Jackson music “They Don’t Care About Us.” Particularly, the company used a portion of the music that features the slurs “Jew me” and “kike me.”
The music was controversial on the time, and Jackson apologized, releasing a brand new model of the music and saying he didn’t intend for it to be antisemitic. However, clearly, it’s extraordinarily antisemitic. And anybody in 2025 who would use that audio, particularly simply that portion of the music for a really brief video, is aware of precisely what they’re doing.
The video and the response
The Border Patrol video was posted months in the past however went largely unnoticed by the broader public till Tuesday, when white supremacists on X began to put up about it approvingly. The video was even pinned to the Border Patrol’s Reels part when Gizmodo considered it on Tuesday evening, which means that they actually wished individuals to see it.
It had racked up 3.4 million views at that time earlier than being deleted. We saved a copy of the video, which you’ll see under.
Border Patrol deleted the movies from Instagram and Fb on Wednesday morning, however Gizmodo was uncertain whether or not it was the immigration company that deleted them or maybe Meta. In spite of everything the eye the video attracted, it appeared believable that it had been deleted by Fb moderators for hate speech violations.
Gizmodo reached out to Fb’s father or mother firm, Meta, in addition to DHS on Wednesday morning. Meta gave us the run-around and wouldn’t say who had truly deleted the video. DHS didn’t reply on Wednesday, however lastly despatched a brief electronic mail on Thursday afternoon.
“We deleted the put up and can replace with totally different music. Finish of story. Now concentrate on the violent prison unlawful aliens,” the e-mail learn, credited solely to an nameless “CBP Spox.”
If that seems like an odd tone to be coming from an official authorities spokesperson, you’d be proper. I’ve been a reporter for over a decade, and I’ve by no means had authorities officers reply to emails in the best way that they’ve since President Trump took energy this previous January. And to ship that type of terse and snippy message with out acknowledging the antisemitism of the video or why it had been posted within the first place is extraordinarily bizarre. It’s significantly bizarre when DHS is sharing fascist propaganda day by day, typically with racist messages.
However that’s how DHS operates now. Final month, Gizmodo emailed the company to inquire a few weird video that DHS had distributed, which featured video and music from Pokémon. The response: “To arrest them is our actual take a look at. To deport them is our trigger,” a reference to the Pokémon music. It might need been cutesy enjoyable coming from some shitposter on the web. However these are the parents who carry weapons and deport individuals to international locations the place they’ve by no means lived.
DHS retains mendacity
President Donald Trump is at the moment working to purge the nation of immigrants, and his brokers don’t appear to care a lot about telling the reality. Individuals who work for DHS and ICE have regularly been caught mendacity in latest months. They usually at all times appear to be extremely whiny within the course of.
For instance, a video of an adolescent being violently arrested in Chicago went viral final week, and most of the people have been horrified. However DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin insisted the video was “from a yr in the past,” a declare that was being made by far-right accounts on X. McLaughlin additionally claimed that the individuals within the video weren’t even ICE. Each claims are lies, because the individuals who have been arrested have been reportedly protesting and monitoring ICE, based on the Chicago Tribune.
In accordance with the newspaper: “Previous to being detained, the youngsters had been following the brokers’ automobiles and honking their automotive horn to warn those who federal brokers have been patrolling the neighborhood.” The tactic has change into frequent in communities like Los Angeles and Chicago, as individuals attempt to warn their neighbors concerning the masked secret police who now roam our streets.
Is it annoying for the federal brokers? Certain. Nevertheless it’s not unlawful, and it’s not grounds for an arrest, violent or in any other case, until you reside in an authoritarian nation.
Think about being so determined to demonize regulation enforcement you put up a video from a housebreaking arrest Chicago Police remodeled a yr in the past.
This isn’t even ICE. https://t.co/2NhJybMsri
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) October 12, 2025
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat who represents the district in Illinois the place the incident occurred, launched an announcement confirming the video was latest and famous that “a senior official on the Division of Homeland Safety aggressively unfold misinformation.” The one factor that seems to be incorrect concerning the authentic viral video is the age of one of many individuals who was arrested. The girl within the video is eighteen, not 15, based on the Chicago Tribune. However all the things else the DHS spokesperson was making an attempt to say was simply nonsense pushed by random right-wing trolls on X.
Why would McLaughlin simply blast out misinformation to the world like that? That half is unclear, however she appears to do it so much. Like when she not too long ago stated a 13-year-old arrested by ICE had a gun (he didn’t) or {that a} Chicago lady shot by CBP had pushed herself to the hospital (she didn’t).
In accordance with DHS, the lady who was shot by a CBP agent, 30-year-old Marimar Martinez, supposedly rammed her automotive into the brokers, although she says they rammed into her. Oddly, the federal automobile that was allegedly rammed was later pushed over 1,000 miles away to Maine, one thing that has reportedly pissed off the choose within the case as a result of it is unnecessary why the federal government would do this. That automobile is proof in Martinez’s upcoming trial, and any fairly clever individual would know that.
What’s extra, McLaughlin launched a assertion shortly after Martinez was arrested, insisting that she was “armed with a semi-automatic weapon” and that an agent acted “defensively” by taking pictures her. Gizmodo reached out to DHS on the time, asking particularly concerning the weapon, and the company didn’t reply, apart from to share a hyperlink to McLaughlin’s assertion. We’ve since discovered from information studies that Martinez had a authorized hid carry license for a gun that by no means left her purse, based on FOX 32.
What ought to we consider?
All the lies and shady maneuvers make it very arduous for the typical individual to consider what they’re listening to.
Even when the federal authorities goes to trial over an incident involving ICE, it looks as if the federal government isn’t giving us the entire image. On Thursday, a lady in Washington, DC, was acquitted of assaulting an FBI agent throughout a protest exterior the DC Jail again in July. The federal government tried to convey felony fees thrice, and grand juries rejected these fees thrice. So once they lastly introduced lesser fees, it appeared possible that she’d be convicted. However the proof was so ridiculous, the jury apparently noticed proper via it.
The FBI agent who claimed she was assaulted, Eugenia Bates, didn’t flip over textual content messages till the final minute, and one of many messages was lacking, based on native information outlet WUSA. In one of many messages, the FBI agent described the defendant as a “libtard.” Extremely, surveillance footage from a digital camera that the federal government had described as inoperable all of the sudden confirmed up the evening earlier than the trial as properly.
To place it bluntly: Individuals are actually able the place they actually can’t consider something the federal authorities says. No matter you considered the feds earlier than Trump took energy once more, there was a normal perception amongst most Individuals that companies just like the FBI or DHS would attempt to inform the reality. Given the highway we’re at the moment happening as a rustic, with masked males terrorizing hard-working individuals, it’s not clear why anybody would ever do this once more.
