The Trump administration is planning to spend a reported $100 million in taxpayer funds to recruit people to execute Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda at ICE, and much of that money will be spent on bigoted right-wing media outlets.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that an internal ICE memo refers to a “wartime recruitment” strategy meant to bring in new recruits to act as mass deportation foot soldiers.
The strategy calls for spending money on platforms like Rumble, one of the right’s favorite video platforms.
Rumble is notorious for being a venue where racist and antisemitic content is allowed to thrive and spread. Notorious conservative podcasters like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and white supremacist Nick Fuentes are among the most well-known content creators on Rumble. Under the administration’s plans, these programs could now be flush with money from Americans they discriminate against.
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The ICE document also references plans to spend advertising dollars with right-wing influencers and on venues with pro-gun content. At full implementation, the plan would involve a significant transfer of money from the public to the conservative media ecosystem.
ICE’s marketing materials also reinforce a right-wing and bigoted worldview. They refer to migrants as a “flood” to be destroyed, “enemies” at the gates, and call on potential recruits to “defend the homeland.”
These messages are consistent with dehumanizing language that Trump and other Republicans have used about migrants, which extremists have then regurgitated. In fact, this language has been employed by more than one mass shooter who sought to prevent migration via murder.
Under Trump, ICE has faced considerable recruitment problems as the population hoping to be affiliated with his racist mass deportation scheme is smaller than expected. Despite millions spent to attract recruits, the administration has had to lower job requirements and cut training time in hopes of bringing in people willing to be on the front lines of a racist operation.
ICE also has the burden of working under the leadership of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who has been at the forefront of producing anti-immigrant propaganda for the administration. Noem has also been criticized for massive expenditures of tax dollars on her watch that have been directed towards her friends and allies.
Democrats have also made it clear that they intend to catalogue and document abuses committed by ICE operatives, who could face severe consequences down the line.
The risk of responding to one of the administration’s ads on a right-wing disinformation outlet may just not be worth it in the long run—even for Trump’s most fervent racists.
