Recently, a job ad appeared on the Department of Homeland Security’s Instagram page. Department of Homeland Security Instagram account. hide title
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Department of Homeland Security Instagram account.
If all you knew about current events in the United States were based solely on social media feeds from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), You can easily conclude that America is at war. Earlier this month, a recruitment video on the agency's social media platforms urged viewers to join ICE, saying: “Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, we have reclaimed our borders, secured our country, and begun deporting these foreign invaders. Just as important as the mission of securing our borders is the mission of defending our culture — and what it means to be an American.”
The video is part of a social media and advertising blitz aimed at building public support for the ongoing crackdown and recruiting new immigration agents. The Department of Homeland Security's stated missions are law enforcement, immigration, travel security, and cybersecurity. Its campaign to protect American culture from invaders attracted attention and prompted accusations from the Southern Poverty Law Center's HateWatch Project that it promoted a white Christian nationalist agenda.
Consider the agency's Instagram, which has nearly half a million followers: It's a hodgepodge of pop culture memes, action-movie-quality videos of ICE raids, and paintings of white settlers expanding westward as Native Americans fled into the shadows. There are many more Redesigned vintage World War II style posters, often featuring Uncle Sam calling on Americans to join ICE.
Recently, a painting by John Gast appeared on the Department of Homeland Security Instagram page. Department of Homeland Security Instagram page hide caption
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Department of Homeland Security Instagram Page
Illustration on the Department of Homeland Security Instagram page. Department of Homeland Security/DHS Social Media hide caption
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Department of Homeland Security/DHS Social Media
Graphic novelist Julio Anta said the retro quality harks back to “the good old days of America, back to when America was great.” The World War II theme was a call to arms, he said, “trying to inspire a new generation to see this fight against immigrants as the stuff of the Greatest Generation.” [who fought in the second World War]”.
There is a long history of illustrations demonizing immigrants in the United States. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, editorial Cartoons frequently attacked Irish, Italian, Chinese and Jewish immigrants. There's an infamous 19th-century newspaper cartoon of Uncle Sam hovering angrily over a furnace, with a caption that read, “We can't digest the scum.” In another illustration from 1911, a burly immigrant shines his shoes, and the caption is racist against Italians and how much garlic they eat.
A 1911 political cartoon commenting on Italian immigrants in the United States. The original title described racism against Italians, along with a poem: “A pound of spaghetti” and a red bandan, a stiletto and a corduroy suit; add garlic wat make stonga da mus', and black flair – a da boot. (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images) Hide caption
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(Photo credit: Stock Montage/Getty Images)
A 1919 cartoon commenting on immigration, originally published in the Columbus Dispatch. Courtesy of Ohio State University. hide title
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Courtesy of Ohio State University.
Anta points out that the Department of Homeland Security’s social media artwork today almost exclusively features white America and a romanticized past. “When I see these images, I see it's predominantly white people. It's all about a better time in white society and trying to bring it back to that time again.”
NPR repeatedly contacted Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, to ask more about their social media activity. She didn't respond.
Anta, the son of Cuban and Colombian immigrants, said the photos left him frustrated. He said that these words and Mass arrests of undocumented immigrants, sometimes with little or no due process, As a Latino man, he now feels unsafe. He carries a passport photo with him in case he is stopped. He was surprised by a recent job ad from the Department of Homeland Security, which affirmed, “We know what it means to be American. Everybody knows what it is to be American.”
“I think when I was growing up, I probably felt included in that statement,” Anta said. “I grew up thinking America was a place made up of immigrants, and the culture we brought with us made this country a better place. But now we don't even understand that.”
Forty-two percent of Latino voters chose Trump, a historic number for a Republican presidential candidate. But about a year into his presidency, polls show that has changed: A recent New York Times/Sienna poll found that 69 percent of Hispanics disapprove of the president.
The same poll showed 26% of Latinos Do Support Trump.
Among them, 66-year-old Peter Gonzalez lives in Tallahassee, Florida. He said he voted for President Trump in large part because he said he wanted to control illegal immigration. His own parents were Cuban immigrants, but he stresses – they Came to the United States legally.
“I don't have any problem with immigrants coming into this country,” Gonzalez said. “We are all immigrants. But there is a process, there are procedures, there are background checks. All these things need to be done.”
Gonzalez is a retired Coast Guardsman who supports ongoing immigration enforcement operations. Gonzalez identifies as Hispanic and white, but he said he is no stranger to anti-Latino racism — he faced it growing up. Still, he insisted DHS' comments had nothing to do with race. This is about enforcing immigration laws. “I don't feel like I'm being targeted. I mean, everyone knows my last name. They know I'm bilingual. I don't feel like the government is targeting Latinos.”
Gonzalez rarely uses social media. In fact, our interview marked the first time he had seen a DHS Instagram recruiting post. Flipping through them, his discomfort became obvious. “Protect your country, defend your culture,” he repeated loudly. “Why? I agree with 'protect your homeland,' meaning illegal criminals coming in. But the second part…” He paused. “'Defend your culture'? I disagree with that. American culture is all culture.”
Gonzalez said he still supports President Trump's immigration crackdown.
But, like many Latinos, this message doesn't sit well with him and he finds it confusing. Julio Anta said there's no doubt he doesn't feel included in the Department of Homeland Security's recent “everyone knows what an American is” statement. “I think when most people see me or my family, what they want to portray is not a white monoculture.” But Anta wondered, what if that statement was reversed? “We know an American when we see them, and that can be an extremely powerful statement: Americans can be anyone, any race, any culture, any generation of immigrants.” But the way it's written now, he said, “puts a target on our backs.”