Npr
@npr·843K subscribers·3.4K videos
The Trump administration is promoting its aggressive crackdown on immigration with memes | NPR
Posted
September 9, 2025
Views
8,339
Likes
508
Comments
66
Engagement
6.88%
September 9, 2025
8,339
508
66
6.88%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
2:19Now PlayingThe Trump administration is promoting its aggressive crackdown on immigration with memes.
The White House's X account, as well as that of the Department of Homeland Security, have for months been posting a steady stream of content, some in the style of viral internet trends. A video from February includes footage of immigrants boarding planes with handcuffs and chains rattling, captioned "ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight," referring to a genre of videos featuring sounds meant to evoke a calming and pleasant experience.
The posts are deeply polarizing: popular among a swath of Trump fans who share them and comment favorably, while generating outcry from critics who object to their tone and content.
This approach "speaks to the people who enjoy the irreverence, who enjoy the cruelty, who enjoy the 'owning the libs,'" said Ryan Milner, a professor of communication at the College of Charleston who studies Internet culture. "Especially how it causes people to freak out and cry foul. I think that's part of the point with these."
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson didn't directly respond to NPR's questions for this story. She sent an emailed statement saying: "The White House consistently posts banger memes," and went on to mock NPR.
• Read or listen to"What's behind the Trump administration's immigration memes?" at
------------------------------------------------------
Follow NPR elsewhere, too:
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
