ICE Recruiters Are Using Neo-Nazi Memes and Seeking Out Extremists at Gun Shows

"Under Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has gone on an explicitly fascist zag as it seeks to recruit 10,000 additional U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Robert Reich and others have detailed in recent weeks how ICE is now actively seeking to recruit extremist young men from gun shows, Ultimate Fight Club venues, rodeos, martial arts centers, and other haunts for men who tend to have a far right political vision."

"ICE is actively employing recruiters who use right-wing social media and influencer operations to get at potential recruits. And it is explicitly targeting young men who listen to "patriotic" (in other words, hard-right) podcasts. Part of ICE's "wartime recruitment" schtick now involves asking potential applicants if they want to repel "foreign invaders" - and then offering them $50,000 sign-up bonuses if they decide to join."

"The Southern Poverty Law Center has, over the past year, researched the increasingly extreme language and imagery used in these recruitment campaigns. They include a " Your Country Needs You" poster of Uncle Sam, from August of last year, in which Uncle Sam asks "Which way, American Man?" One arrow points to "Invasion," another to "Cultural Decline," while a third points toward Uncle Sam and reads "Homeland.""

Under Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security seeks to recruit 10,000 additional ICE agents using explicitly fascist rhetoric and imagery. Recruitment efforts target extremist young men at gun shows, fight clubs, rodeos, martial arts centers and similar venues. Recruiters use right-wing social media and influencer networks and target listeners of "patriotic" hard-right podcasts. "Wartime recruitment" messaging asks applicants if they want to repel "foreign invaders" and promises $50,000 sign-up bonuses. The Southern Poverty Law Center documents increasingly extreme recruitment materials, including an Uncle Sam "Your Country Needs You" poster framing invasion and cultural decline and imagery presenting a father-son pair as "Aryan."

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