Two new anti-ICE ad campaigns are rolling out across major streaming platforms, escalating the fight over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.
One ad is a satire of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recruitment messaging, while the other centers on the story of a U.S. military veteran who says he was wrongfully detained by federal agents for three days this summer.
“My driver’s side window shatters. An agent sticks his arm through and pepper sprays me in the face. They drag me out of the car. They throw me on the ground. They zip tie my hands behind my back,” says George Retes, a U.S. citizen, in a video from Home Of The Brave.
“Had they just looked at my ID, they would have seen that I’m a US citizen, that I’m a veteran… What’s happening right now isn’t right. We’ve got to get accountability. [What happened to me] doesn’t define who we are as Americans.”
Why It Matters
The Trump administration has been aggressively recruiting thousands of new ICE agents, pouring money into advertising the jobs—a strategy that has sparked criticism over both the tone and volume of the ads. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it is following through on campaign promises made during the 2024 election: deporting millions of undocumented immigrants and tightening national security.
What to Know
Retes’ story is part of a $250,000 media push from Home of the Brave, a new initiative that challenges the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement and related policies.
Although that figure is small compared to DHS’s roughly $51 million media budget this year, the group said Wednesday that it hopes its campaign will reach Americans with a different message—that the current system is sweeping up U.S. citizens and causing serious harm.
Retes was arrested by federal agents in Southern California in July, after they arrived at a farm in Camarillo where he worked as a security guard. The Ventura City native served four years in the U.S. Army.
Following his release, Retes publicly criticized conditions inside ICE detention facilities. DHS pushed back, claiming he became violent during the operation, in which dozens of others were taken into custody.
Now his story is being shown to streaming audiences who may already be familiar with ads from ICE and DHS that encourage undocumented immigrants to self-deport and invite Americans to apply for ICE agent positions.
Those government ads began appearing more frequently over the summer and drew particular backlash in October from users of Spotify, one of the platforms hosting DHS content. Some listeners vowed to boycott the service, even though similar ads were also running on other platforms.
In response, a second anti-ICE effort—this one from left-leaning campaign group MoveOn Civic Action—launched a spoof of the recruitment-style spots aimed at “patriotic” applicants.
“Do you feel good about tear-gassing kids? Shooting pastors? Or kidnapping grandmas? Then you have exactly what Donald Trump is looking for!” the ad declares. It is set to run on Spotify and YouTube.
The video uses images from news coverage of ICE raids, including scenes of alleged undocumented immigrants being tear-gassed, restrained, and detained. ICE agents have repeatedly faced accusations of using excessive force during such operations, while DHS has argued that protestors and immigrants have escalated tensions by becoming violent.
Spotify confirmed to Newsweek that MoveOn’s ad is running on its platform and noted that it is also appearing elsewhere, including across Meta’s properties.
What’s Next
Because both ad campaigns have only just launched, their impact is still unclear. Organizers hope more Americans will join efforts to scrutinize and challenge ICE’s tactics, while the Trump administration shows no sign of backing down from its push to recruit more agents and detain large numbers of alleged undocumented immigrants with the goal of deportation.
