Border Patrol Responds Like a Petulant Youngster to Controversy Over Its Antisemitic Video

A spokesperson for U.S. Border Patrol has lastly issued an announcement in regards to the antisemitic social media video that the company posted in August, however was simply deleted this week. And in typical Trumpian style, the assertion is extremely whiny.

Border Patrol, which is a part of the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety, first posted a 13-second video to Instagram and Fb again in August that used audio from the 1995 Michael Jackson tune “They Don’t Care About Us.” Particularly, the company used a portion of the tune that features the slurs “Jew me” and “kike me.”

The tune was controversial on the time, and Jackson apologized, releasing a brand new model of the tune and saying he didn’t intend for it to be antisemitic. However, clearly, it’s extraordinarily antisemitic. And anybody in 2025 who would use that audio, particularly simply that portion of the tune for a really brief video, is aware of precisely what they’re doing.

The video and the response

The Border Patrol video was posted months in the past however went largely unnoticed by the broader public till Tuesday, when white supremacists on X began to put up about it approvingly. The video was even pinned to the Border Patrol’s Reels part when Gizmodo seen it on Tuesday night time, that means that they actually wished folks to see it.

It had racked up 3.4 million views at that time earlier than being deleted. We saved a copy of the video, which you’ll see under.

Border Patrol deleted the movies from Instagram and Fb on Wednesday morning, however Gizmodo was not sure whether or not it was the immigration company that deleted them or maybe Meta. In spite of everything the eye the video attracted, it appeared believable that it had been deleted by Fb moderators for hate speech violations.

Gizmodo reached out to Fb’s guardian firm, Meta, in addition to DHS on Wednesday morning. Meta gave us the run-around and wouldn’t say who had truly deleted the video. DHS didn’t reply on Wednesday, however lastly despatched a brief electronic mail on Thursday afternoon.

“We deleted the put up and can replace with totally different music. Finish of story. Now concentrate on the violent felony unlawful aliens,” the e-mail learn, credited solely to an nameless “CBP Spox.”

If that appears like an odd tone to be coming from an official authorities spokesperson, you’d be proper. I’ve been a reporter for over a decade, and I’ve by no means had authorities officers reply to emails in the way in which that they’ve since President Trump took energy this previous January. And to ship that type of terse and snippy message with out acknowledging the antisemitism of the video or why it had been posted within the first place is extraordinarily bizarre. It’s notably bizarre when DHS is sharing fascist propaganda each day, typically with racist messages.

However that’s how DHS operates now. Final month, Gizmodo emailed the company to inquire a few bizarre video that DHS had distributed, which featured video and music from Pokémon. The response: “To arrest them is our actual check. To deport them is our trigger,” a reference to the Pokémon tune. It might need been cutesy enjoyable coming from some shitposter on the web. However these are the oldsters who carry weapons and deport folks to international locations the place they’ve never lived.

DHS retains mendacity

President Donald Trump is at the moment working to purge the nation of immigrants, and his brokers don’t appear to care a lot about telling the reality. Individuals who work for DHS and ICE have ceaselessly been caught mendacity in current months. And so they at all times appear to be extremely whiny within the course of.

For instance, a video of a teen being violently arrested in Chicago went viral last week, and most of the people have been horrified. However DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin insisted the video was “from a yr in the past,” a declare that was being made by far-right accounts on X. McLaughlin additionally claimed that the folks within the video weren’t even ICE. Each claims are lies, because the individuals who have been arrested have been reportedly protesting and monitoring ICE, in accordance with the Chicago Tribune.

In keeping with the newspaper: “Previous to being detained, the youngsters had been following the brokers’ automobiles and honking their automobile horn to warn folks that federal brokers have been patrolling the neighborhood.” The tactic has grow to be frequent in communities like Los Angeles and Chicago, as folks attempt to warn their neighbors in regards to the masked secret police who now roam our streets.

Is it annoying for the federal brokers? Positive. Nevertheless it’s not unlawful, and it’s not grounds for an arrest, violent or in any other case, until you reside in an authoritarian nation.

Think about being so determined to demonize legislation enforcement you put up a video from a housebreaking arrest Chicago Police remodeled a yr in the past.

This isn’t even ICE. https://t.co/2NhJybMsri

— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) October 12, 2025

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat who represents the district in Illinois the place the incident befell, released a statement confirming the video was current and famous that “a senior official on the Division of Homeland Safety aggressively unfold misinformation.” The one factor that seems to be incorrect in regards to the authentic viral video is the age of one of many individuals who was arrested. The lady within the video is eighteen, not 15, in accordance with the Chicago Tribune. However every little thing else the DHS spokesperson was attempting to assert was simply nonsense pushed by random right-wing trolls on X.

Why would McLaughlin simply blast out misinformation to the world like that? That half is unclear, however she appears to do it lots. Like when she lately stated a 13-year-old arrested by ICE had a gun (he did not) or {that a} Chicago girl shot by CBP had pushed herself to the hospital (she did not).

In keeping with DHS, the lady who was shot by a CBP agent, 30-year-old Marimar Martinez, supposedly rammed her automobile into the brokers, although she says they rammed into her. Oddly, the federal automobile that was allegedly rammed was later pushed over 1,000 miles away to Maine, one thing that has reportedly frustrated the judge within the case as a result of it is senseless why the federal government would try this. That automobile is proof in Martinez’s upcoming trial, and any fairly clever particular person would know that.

What’s extra, McLaughlin launched a statement shortly after Martinez was arrested, insisting that she was “armed with a semi-automatic weapon” and that an agent acted “defensively” by capturing her. Gizmodo reached out to DHS on the time, asking particularly in regards to the weapon, and the company didn’t reply, apart from to share a hyperlink to McLaughlin’s assertion. We’ve since discovered from information experiences that Martinez had a authorized hid carry license for a gun that by no means left her purse, in accordance with FOX 32.

What ought to we consider?

All the lies and shady maneuvers make it very arduous for the typical particular person to consider what they’re listening to.

Even when the federal authorities goes to trial over an incident involving ICE, it looks like the federal government isn’t giving us the entire image. On Thursday, a lady in Washington, DC, was acquitted of assaulting an FBI agent throughout a protest exterior the DC Jail again in July. The federal government tried to carry felony costs thrice, and grand juries rejected these costs thrice. So after they lastly introduced lesser costs, it appeared doubtless that she’d be convicted. However the proof was so ridiculous, the jury apparently noticed proper by it.

The FBI agent who claimed she was assaulted, Eugenia Bates, didn’t flip over textual content messages till the final minute, and one of many messages was lacking, in accordance with native information outlet WUSA. In one of many messages, the FBI agent described the defendant as a “libtard.” Extremely, surveillance footage from a digicam that the federal government had described as inoperable out of the blue confirmed up the night time earlier than the trial as effectively.

To place it bluntly: Individuals at the moment are able the place they actually can’t consider something the federal authorities says. No matter you considered the feds earlier than Trump took energy once more, there was a common perception amongst most Individuals that businesses just like the FBI or DHS would attempt to inform the reality. Given the street we’re at the moment happening as a rustic, with masked males terrorizing hard-working folks, it’s not clear why anybody would ever try this once more.