The White House on Monday doubled down on Donald Trump's trolling suggestion to rename U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as National Immigration & Customs Enforcement, thereby rebranding ICE as 'NICE.'
Official amplification
The official White House account amplified Trump's idea on X, sharing an apparently AI-generated image of an immigration agent with 'NICE' emblazoned on his back and arm patch, with the slogan 'Defending Our Country' underneath. The image showed the agent standing at what appeared to be the U.S. southern border, with his hand on the back of a young boy.
'ICE → NICE AGENTS,' the post read, adding: 'National Immigration and Customs Enforcement. DO IT!'
Critical reactions
Critics accused the White House of posting 'propaganda' and recalled recent outrages involving federal immigration enforcement, such as the fatal shootings by agents of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during protests against the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration in Minneapolis earlier this year.
One user commented: 'Rebranding won't do shit. This country is being run by fucking morons.' Another said: 'Looks just like Nazi propaganda posters from WWII. How appropriate.' A third added: 'Right after this the (N)ICE agent arrested that little boy and shipped him off never to see his family again.'
Another critic wrote: 'This is such a creepy propaganda rebrand. Kneeling down with a kid in front of a border wall while calling ICE "NICE AGENTS" doesn't make family separations or aggressive raids any less harsh. Just enforce the laws without the weird marketing campaign.'
