The Department of Homeland Security faced sharp criticism this week after publishing a social media post that appeared to celebrate the removal of an unprecedented number of people from the United States. The post surfaced as federal immigration officers were involved in multiple shootings within days, prompting renewed scrutiny of both the administration’s immigration rhetoric and its enforcement practices.
On Wednesday, the official DHS social media account posted an image depicting a pink late-1960s Cadillac Eldorado parked along a beach beneath the words “America after 100 million deportations.” The image was captioned, “The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world.” Users later said the image was taken from Japanese pop artist Hiroshi Nagai without attribution.
The scale implied by the post immediately drew attention. According to figures cited in the reporting, roughly 47 million people living in the United States are foreign born. Even if every immigrant, including legal residents and naturalized citizens, were deported, the total would fall far short of 100 million. Meeting that figure would require removing tens of millions of people born in the United States who are entitled to citizenship under the 14th Amendment. Social media users cited census data to note that approximately 100 million people in the country identify as nonwhite.
The post fit within a broader pattern of DHS messaging described in the reporting. The agency has repeatedly used imagery and language associated with nationalist and exclusionary movements, including references to “remigration,” frontier symbolism tied to “Manifest Destiny,” and posts framed around American “heritage” and “culture.” One image urging Americans to “REPORT ALL FOREIGN INVADERS” was traced to an overt neo-Nazi account. After criticism intensified, DHS posted again on Friday stating that “2026 will be the year of American Supremacy” over an image of George Washington crossing the Delaware with the words “Return this Land.”
The online escalation coincided with a series of violent encounters involving federal immigration officers. On Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. Federal officials described the shooting as self-defense and said Good attempted to run over officers. Minnesota officials disputed that account after reviewing video footage. Governor Tim Walz later posted, “Don’t believe this propaganda machine.”
One day later, federal agents shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon. DHS described the incident as a “targeted vehicle stop” by Border Patrol agents and claimed the driver “weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents.” The man and woman who were shot were reportedly married and transported to a hospital. Their names and medical conditions were not immediately released.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson responded by calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to halt operations in the city. “We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts,” Wilson said. “Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences. As mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.” He added, “We know what the federal government says happened here,” and said, “There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time has long passed.”
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said his office would examine the shooting to determine “whether any federal officer acted outside the scope of their lawful authority.” Rayfield said, “We have been clear about our concerns with the excessive use of force by federal agents in Portland, and today’s incident only heightens the need for transparency and accountability.” He added, “Oregonians deserve clear answers when people are injured in their neighborhoods.”
The Portland and Minneapolis shootings occurred amid a documented pattern of federal immigration officers using deadly force. Reporting reviewed by The Marshall Project found that “federal officers have fatally shot at least three other people in the last five months.” The Marshall Project added, “Agents have also shot other people,” and cited data from The Trace showing that “The Trace, the nonprofit news organization covering gun violence, has counted more than a dozen such shootings.”
Those incidents include the killing of Silverio Villegas González in a Chicago suburb in September, the fatal shooting of a 31-year-old Mexican citizen in Texas in December, and a New Year’s Eve shooting in Los Angeles by an off-duty ICE agent. In a separate Chicago case, a woman survived multiple gunshot wounds. The Border Patrol officer who shot her appeared to boast in a text message later presented in court evidence, writing, “I fired 5 rounds, and she had seven holes. Put that in your book boys.”
Vehicle encounters have frequently been cited by federal officials to justify the use of force. According to reporting cited from The New York Times, federal officers have fired on at least nine people in vehicles over the past four months. In several cases, video or witness accounts later contradicted official claims. After the killing of González, DHS said an officer was seriously injured, but body camera footage captured the agent saying it was “nothing major,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Beyond shootings, the reporting describes immigration officers pointing weapons at bystanders and activists. Illinois State Representative Hoan Huynh said agents blocked his car and pointed a gun at him while he attempted to alert community members to enforcement activity. A pregnant Illinois woman told Newsweek she feared she would die when an agent pointed a gun through her car window. In another Chicago incident, a combat veteran alleged in a court filing that an officer said “bang, bang” and “you’re dead, liberal” while pointing a handgun at him.
Critics argued that the DHS post cannot be separated from these enforcement practices. Responding to the “100 million deportations” image, Ben Norton said, “This is absolutely insane Nazi propaganda, posted by the U.S. government.”
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