Why the Song Used in This ICE Recruitment Post Matters

Two days after an ICE agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, the Department of Homeland Security posted a recruitment call on Instagram set to a song embraced by neo-Nazi circles, Austin Campbell reports at the Intercept. The DHS post, aimed at hiring new agents, used "We'll Have Our Home Again" by Pine Tree Riots—a track whose lyrics about reclaiming "our home" by "blood or sweat" are widely associated with white nationalist rhetoric. Campbell notes the manifesto of Ryan Christopher Palmeter, who killed three Black people at a Jacksonville Dollar General in 2023, began with the song's lyrics, which have been chanted by the Proud Boys at rallies.

Experts who Campbell spoke with say the move marks an escalation from fringe sympathizers to official channels. "There was a sense of plausible deniability before," said Alice Marwick of Data & Society, noting that coded extremist references used to come from supporters, not the government itself. Social media analyst Brian Hansbury said the timing—coming immediately after ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good—would likely be read in extremist spaces "as intentional. It reads as a message about who the agency is speaking to and the audience it is trying to reach." Read Campbell's full piece here.