DHS Deletes Post After Spokesperson Is Confronted By Reporter About White Nationalist Content

The Department of Homeland Security deleted a post after its top spokesperson was confronted by a journalist over content that had links with white supremacy.

The New York Times detailed an exchange with DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in which the journalist noted that a post seeking to recruit agents for ICE that had the phrase "we'll have our home again," also used in a white supremacist song.

McLaughlin denied that was the case, saying that if the post were actually about the song, that would be "a problem" and "morally repugnant."

"There are plenty of references to those words in books and poems," the official added, noting that she was "in charge of everything" posted on the department's social media.

However, the article added, the actual song played in the background when the post was opened on Instagram's mobile app. McLaughlin denied that being the case, saying "it's not there."

However, less than an hour after the interview, the post was removed from Instagram. Those on X and Facebook, which didn't feature the song, remain online.

Elsewhere, the article noted that other post have made reference to neo-Nazi literature, ethnic cleansing and QAnon conspiracies.

Others have sounded alarms about the rhetoric in the past. Earlier this month, union leaders and labor historians accused the Trump administration of adopting rhetoric aligned with extremist and exclusionary ideologies after the publication of posts that drew comparisons to Nazi-era slogans.

The criticism centers on a Labor Department video posted on social media with the caption "remember who you are, American," followed by the phrase "One Homeland. One People. One Heritage." Users on X and the platform's AI tool Grok noted similarities to the Nazi slogan "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer," or "one people, one realm, one leader."

"The similarity to that Nazi slogan is bad," Christopher Hayes, a labor historian and professor at Rutgers University, told The Guardian, citing concern over "the motivation behind it, the message, the sentiment and desired outcome."

Jimmy Williams Jr., general president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, echoed those concerns, saying that the department has repeatedly imitated "far-right and fascist imagery" online. "When people tell you who they are, believe them," he said.

In July, DHS also faced backlash after sharing imagery linked to Manifest Destiny and captions invoking "homeland" and "heritage," language critics said echoed white supremacist dog whistles. DHS said at the time that the administration was "unapologetically proud of American history and American heritage."