DHS Accused of Posting Altered Video Portraying Black Teens as Threats to ICE Agents

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is under scrutiny after its official X account shared a video of Black teenagers appearing to threaten Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents—footage that social media users later identified as altered from its original context.

The post, uploaded on October 17, featured a group of young Black men and a caption reading, "FAFO. If you threaten or lay hands on our law enforcement officers we will hunt you down and you will find out, really quick. We'll see you cowards soon." The acronym "FAFO" is widely understood to mean "F*** around and find out." The video also included text suggesting Mexican cartels had placed a $50,000 bounty on ICE agents.

Within hours, users traced the original clip to TikTok, where it was first uploaded months earlier with a different message—one that jokingly referenced Iran rather than ICE. The creator of the original video, speaking in a new post amplified by Democratic congressional candidate Danny Glover, said he was stunned by the federal agency's use of his content. "I saw the caption and I was like, 'I didn't do that!'" he said. "Here's the messed-up part: the federal government is involved with something that I didn't do. What?"

DHS responded in a statement shared with The Independent, insisting the video was authentic and unaltered. "This young man posted violent threats of murder against our law enforcement. He then deleted it when he was called out," the agency said. "DHS did not edit, change, use AI, or in any other manner alter this video."

The controversy follows a pattern of provocative social media use by DHS under Noem. In the last few months, social media handles for both DHS and ICE have sparked controversy with content mocking detainees, violating copyright and, in one case, likening immigration raids to catching Pokémon, using imagery and music from the popular Japanese franchise.

Furthermore, DHS has also been under fire for incorporating white supremacist, antisemitic, and neo-Nazi imagery into its recruitment materials for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while also disproportionately depicting Black and Brown people in posts highlighting arrests and detention.