White House Posts Deportation Video Online, Causing Disgust

Source: Handout / Getty

President Donald Trump and the White House are being blasted for releasing a video online showing immigrants in chains being deported with a flippant caption, with social media expressing revulsion.

On Tuesday (February 18), the White House released a dehumanizing video showing immigrants whose faces are not shown being shackled being put on a flight during the deportation process, alarming many. The video shows multiple people being placed in handcuffs and shackled around the ankles with a torso chain, with the sounds vividly captured including that of the aircraft waiting on the tarmac. It currently has 63.8 million views on X, formerly Twitter, and 2.6 million views via Instagram reels.

ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight pic.twitter.com/O6L1iYt9b4

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 18, 2025

The video was posted on their social media accounts, with the caption “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight.” ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response, which is a sensation that promotes relaxation and a tingly sensation and goosebumps in people. It has been a popular genre of social media videos, growing over the past decade. There has been no clarity of who is responsible at the White House for the posting of the video, as the Trump administration has kept the identities of those operating those accounts under wraps, a stark contrast to the Office of Digital Strategy under the previous Biden-Harris administration which was more transparent.

The immediate reactions from the video by supporters of President Trump were appalling, with tech billionaire and Trump advisor Elon Musk chiming in on his X platform calling it “so based.” Another online figure who has frequently used racism in their posts, Joshua Kilgore,  applauded the video. “Got what I voted for award,” he wrote.

But far many more online, including Democratic Senators Ed Markey and Seth Moulton, expressed their outrage and disgust. March For Our Lives board member Caroline McCarthy Pompizzi summed it up in an X post: “I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on or who you voted for – I think we can all agree this is *extremely* psychopathic s–t.”

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