"These are the words and images the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using to recruit more than 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents by the end of the year, which would make it the largest law enforcement agency in the federal government. DHS is also offering signing bonuses of $50,000, student loan repayment and starting salaries as high as $80,000."
"Some of the images look like World War II recruiting posters. Uncle Sam asking you to defend the homeland. Others reference a glorified version of the past. White settlers traveling across the plains toward their Manifest Destiny as Native Americans retreat to the shadows. These posts have millions of views on social media platforms like X. Experts who study extremist groups are flagging them as dangerous."
"Pete Simi is a sociologist at Chapman University who has been studying extremist groups and violence for more than 25 years. "Propaganda is an art," he said. "It's a very powerful way of communicating and it typically obscures the truth. When it's done effectively, it makes it hard to call it out." Ambiguity plays a major role in white supremacist messaging because it allows whoever posts hateful rhetoric to hide behind plausible deniability, Simi said."
DHS is recruiting more than 10,000 ICE agents by year-end, offering signing bonuses up to $50,000, student loan repayment, and starting salaries up to $80,000. Recruitment posts use imagery evoking World War II recruiting posters, Uncle Sam, and depictions of Manifest Destiny with white settlers and Native Americans in the shadows. Those posts have drawn millions of views on social platforms like X. Experts on extremist groups flag the messaging as dangerous, noting propaganda obscures truth and ambiguity enables plausible deniability. Sociologists studying extremism warn that such ambiguous symbolism can conceal white supremacist themes to general audiences.
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