As Donald Trump campaigned for the presidency promising unprecedented levels of deportation for illegal aliens, critics painted dark scenarios of a nation living in fear as federal agents terrorized people under a shroud of secrecy. Instead, the Trump White House has opted for full transparency, and social media clips of alien arrests have become America’s guilty pleasure rivaling anything on streaming services.
On podcasts and other interviews prior to Trump’s second inauguration, border czar Tom Homan promised transparency in alien arrest operations. Given most politicians’ aversion to sunlight, many Americans were probably expecting data on arrests and a mug shot or two. What we are getting instead are videos of Dr. Phil, America’s wise uncle, embedded with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on operations in Chicago. Dr. Phil is riding along with Homan, talking to arrested aliens, and witnessing ICE agents in action. One such clip on Dr. Phil’s X account already has more than 4 million views.
The clips are reminiscent of COPS, the popular police reality show that records arrests made by local police squads. The twist now is that, unlike a show with mostly unknown officers, familiar faces like those of Dr. Phil and Homan are participating. The fact that the videos are prevalent on social media, focus on America’s top political issue, and concern a top priority of a currently popular president makes them must-watch fare.
Why are do so many people find these videos riveting rather than repulsive, as critics would have us believe they should? Americans are riveted precisely because they voted for this kind of immigration enforcement, and there is gratification in seeing a fundamental promise of the Trump campaign being kept. Seeing ICE agents moving swiftly and strategically while treating those in custody humanely is also debunking the narrative that such operations would be barbaric and intrusive neighborhood sweeps.
After four years of the Biden administration’s ruinous anti-borders policies, the American public is justifiably fed up with lawlessness and willing to embrace enhanced ICE operations. New York, the country’s largest sanctuary city, has become home to over 750,000 illegal aliens as of last November. Of those, more than 58,000 aliens are convicted felons or facing criminal charges. This is not an exception, but the norm in most of America’s sanctuary cities.
The identities of the targets in these operations also help explain the popularity of the arrests. Trump and Homan are both focused on aliens with deportation orders, criminal convictions, pending criminal charges, or known or suspected gang affiliations. The corporate media is trying to change the subject by showing crying migrants denied entry at the border, knowing that there is little sympathy around the country for aliens arrested for burglary, murder, and sex crimes against children.
The videos also move the Overton window of the national debate over illegal immigration. Newly minted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is also riding along with ICE operations. On a recent X post she commented that “Dirtbags like this will continue to be removed from our streets.” Such a statement barely raises eyebrows today and it shows how public opinion has changed when it comes to criminal aliens living among us.
While the Trump Team is currently winning the PR war, the battle will change along with the operations. One of the media’s favorite interview questions for Homan has to do with when he will start arresting illegal aliens not charged with violent crimes. Images of anguished single mothers being led away in handcuffs are sure to be manipulated in ways meant to sway public opinion and are sure to garner more sympathy than those of Tren de Aragua gang bangers. But in the meantime, White House efforts to crack down on fake asylum claims, welfare benefits, and work opportunities are already causing nonviolent aliens to self-deport rather than face ICE arrest.
The substance of Trump’s immigration policies is popular, but the optics also matter. Without the sort of public presentation Trump’s team has developed, the media would be free to spin even the most righteous operations and sour public opinion. After all the skepticism surrounding Trump owing to his previous career in media, it took a former reality television star to get the right visuals to match the policies.
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