The White House, under the Donald Trump Administration, put out a video on its X handle in which immigrants were shown being prepped for their deportation flights in shackles. In the video, one can see a set of handcuffs and chains jingling as they are removed from a basket filled with other restrainment objects. The handcuffs and chains are then laid out on the tarmac next to four other sets.
Captioned “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight,” the video was posted on X on Tuesday. To the uninformed, ASMR is an abbreviation for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. It is used to refer to a tingling, pleasant feeling that some might experience when watching videos that feature unusual sounds, such as whispering or fingernails being tapped on a surface.
Circling back to the problematic 41-second video, one shot in it shows an immigrant with their hands cuffed in front of them and their ankles bound by chains as they walk past an official. Other shots include a close-up of another immigrant in chains as they walk up a stairway to an airplane and a person about to board the plane. None of their faces were shown in the video.
ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight 🔊 pic.twitter.com/O6L1iYt9b4
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 18, 2025
A similar video was shared on X on the same day by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Seattle Office. Captioned “Removal flight. A group of undocumented aliens are flown from Seattle as part of a process to finalize return to their home countries,” the video began with a shot of an officer wearing a jacket that hints at him being a member of the Enforcement and Removal Operations Unit.
The White House retweeted ICE’s X post with a caption that read, “ASMR.” Soon after, tech mogul and DOGE head Elon Musk, who also owns X, retweeted the White House’s post, saying, “Haha Wow.”
✈️REMOVAL FLIGHT✈️
A group of undocumented aliens are flown from Seattle as part of a process to finalize return to their home countries.
For more info on ICE Air, visit https://t.co/dshkGbtHZe. pic.twitter.com/VD0GwSp8jO— ICE Seattle (@EROSeattle) February 18, 2025
The White House’s post wasn’t received well by the Internet, with many X users calling them out for it. “And you’re telling me this isn’t a fascist dictatorship? Making “ASMR” about a human being being deported is beyond cruel. That’s some cartoon type evil,” a comment read, while another user posted, “No matter how you align politically, to find JOY in this is disgusting. I truly cannot understand how this is acceptable to people? Trump followers – honestly, truly, this is okay with you? Someone please stand up and say no, for God’s sake!”
More users were critical of the post. One of them commented, saying, “ASMR? Whomever decided to post this is truly a sick individual. Anyone know who signed off on this? This is not dignified,” while another wrote, “I would’ve mistaken this for a parody account if not for the verification badge; This is absolutely sickening. Whoever is handling this account needs to be sacked.”
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People who were pro-deportation also commented on the post, seemingly repulsed by the senselessness of it, writing, “I’m Pro-Illegal Deportation. But this ASMR is in bad taste. If anything, it’s fodder for liberals to call Conservatives as non-compassionate. Why is the Whitehouse gaslighting the other side?”
