It’s an 'Information War': A Look Behind ICE’s Viral Social Media Campaign
Latino USA
My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
ICE is waging an “information war” on social media, TV, and radio. Washington Post reporters got access to thousands of chats and internal communications from the employees running PR for the Department of Homeland Security.
They run a taxpayer-funded media machine whose main goal is to go viral, whether people love or hate the content. The goal is to go viral. But recent polling suggests the strategy could backfire. Listen to our interview with reporter Drew Harwell.
*Note: Days after this interview was recorded, Harwell was laid off along with 300 of his colleagues at the Post.
Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Futuro |
| 0:02.3 | La Braga is back. |
| 0:09.9 | This season, we're spending time with the people and symbols that represent Puerto Rico. |
| 0:14.1 | We're proud Boricuas. |
| 0:15.6 | And what does that mean? |
| 0:17.0 | And we are still in the fight. |
| 0:25.6 | We're telling stories about champions from a place worth fighting for. |
| 0:28.7 | Stories that will inspire you no matter where you're from. |
| 0:33.1 | This is La Brega Campeones. |
| 0:35.7 | Listen early and ad free with Futudo Plus. |
| 0:53.0 | By now, we've all seen the social media posts from the Trump administration and the federal agencies responsible for the country's immigration enforcement. |
| 0:59.9 | These ICE agents and CBP officers that are out on our streets doing God's work. |
| 1:03.1 | Videos of raids produced like action films. |
| 1:04.3 | Yo, you want to see something cool? |
| 1:05.9 | Like video game ads. |
| 1:06.2 | No. |
| 1:07.3 | Well, I'm going to do it anyway. |
| 1:12.1 | The mugshots of immigrants, most of them brown, with captions that say criminal and alien, |
| 1:17.8 | the official press releases, saying DHS is detaining, quote, the worst of the worst. |
| 1:20.0 | And the mocking means... You're as cold as ice. |
| 1:22.9 | You're willing to sacrifice our love. |
| 1:27.3 | But what about the people making those posts and running the strategy? willing to sacrifice our love. |
... |
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