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Ads about ICE bombard U.S. screens

Dueling message aim to sway public opinion

By: Aarc Ramirez
USA Today

..... The television portrayals couldn't be more different.
..... One recent TV ad that aired on MS NOW and CNN featured images from the January [2026] killing of Renee good and Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis, along with news footage of people being violated confronted on city streets. the montage is punctuated by a snippet of pod caster Joe Rogan asking,"are we really going to be the gestapo? ... Is that what we've come to?"
..... Another profile ad in select TV markets struck an opposite perspective, portraying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as everyday community folks with a difficult job to do. It concludes with cinematic images of unmasked agents calmly escorting detained persons to police vehicles.
..... They are at-odds depictions designed to shape public opinion about the controversial agency whose aggressive tactics have sparked shock and outrage nationwide, with polls indicating nearly two-thirds of Americans now think ICE gone too far.
..... While advocacy groups have long used such outreach to challenge public policy or spotlight social ills, the mostly critical ICE-focused spots represent a new twist on the strategy by focusing on a federal agency and its agents.
..... "I'm struggling to think of any precedent," said Travis Ridout, a professor of government and public policy at Washington State University and an expert in political advertising. "This seems to be something new."
..... The ads have aired in recent months as part of six-figure campaigns largely spearheaded by advocacy groups whose constituents are affected by ICE activity or who see it as their moral duty to take a stand. Some have aired in cities targeting by heightened detention and deportation efforts, such as Chicago, New Orleans and Charlotte, North Carolina, while others have focused on streaming services that have run ICE recruitment ads, such as Spotify.
..... In November, [2025] a one-minute ad produced by global advocacy group Women's March shows a yon girl getting her father as he comes home form work, the letters "ICE" visible on his shirt.
..... Her dad embraces her as she asked about his day, his mind racing with images of crying mothers and children, agents breaking car windows and people being slammed onto the ground.
..... "A mask can't hide you from the neighbors, your children or God," a voiceover says in the ad, stiled "What will You Say?" "They'll know. You can walk away before the shame follows you home."
..... The same month, a spot produced by progressive nonprofit MoveOn Civic Aston spiffed ICE recruitment ads: "Do you feel good about tear-gassing kids? shooting pastors? Or kidnapping grandmas? then you have exactly what Donald Trump is looking for."
..... And in December, [2025] an ad crated by national civil and religious right organization Interfaith Alliance featured a child's voice singing "O'Holy Night" over news footage of ICE agents detaining people and bursting through doors wielding guns, interspersed with images of family and holiday gatherings.
..... Called Choose Love, Not ICE," the Interfaith Alliance video has nearly 2 million views on YouTube.
..... "We also did a small buy in West Palm Beach (Floria) on Fox News in case the president happened to be watching," said the Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, the organizing CEO.
..... The ad, Raushenbush said, aimed to galvanize faith communities and others against ICE's tactics, including what he called the Department of Homeland Security;s "almost obscene" sue of Bible verses in social media posts promoting ICE enforcement.

Clashing portrayals of ICE

.....Stephen Kedvic, a professor of government at Franklin & Marshall college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said the ads essentially treat ICE as policy, with critics not necessarily calling for its abolishment but saying its actions have gone too far.
..... "It's unique that they're focused on a particular agency," he said, but "it's really about a policy choice that's been made."
..... The fascinating outlier, he noted, is the pro-ICE ad, attributed to shadowy group called American Sovereignty. Posts on social media indicate it ran during the Super Bowl in select markets.
..... The 30-second spot features images of people celebrating kids' parties, playing cards or coaching baseball, a narrator describing them as friends, neighbors, sons, father, Little League coaches and veterans before noting their jobs as ICE officers.
..... "They are removing violent criminals from our streets and neighborhoods,: the voiceover says. "It's dangerous and difficult work. But ICE has one mission: to make America a safer place to live - and that's what they're doing.
..... According to its website, American sovereignty's mission is to bolster border security thorough cooperation with law enforcement, policymakers and community leaders. It lists no leaders, staff, headquarters, funding sources or other identifying information, and the organization did not respond to questions from USA Today.
..... "We don't know who's behind it, but they're clearly trying to bolster ICE image as an agency,: Medvic said. "It may be in the mold of the former Department of Defense ads for recruiting purposes, putting the armed forces in a positive light to attract recruits. But it's really acting to public opinion turning against ICE, and that's pretty unique in and of itself."

Spurred to action

..... It was in mid-January, [2026] when leaders at the Jewish Democratic council of America heard Rogan's take on ICE, that they felt their organizing had to act, said CEO Halie Soifer.
..... The 30-second ad featuring Rogan's "gestapo" comparisons, titled "It's Gone too far" debated on February 9 [2026] and aired on MS NOW and CNN. It calls on trump to "stop the abuse: and "Investigate th killings."
..... "When we heard Joe Rogan likening ICE's actions to the Gestapo, the resonated with us, Soifer said. "We've seen the White House using White nationalist dog whistles to recruit for ICE, invoking neo-Nazi slogans and white supremacist memes in a way that is deeply troubling. We know from the darkest moments of history where that can lead and will absolutely not allow it to be repeated."

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