A Japanese artist has accused the Department of Homeland Security of stealing his work to plug its deportation push.
“The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world‚” ICE Barbie Kristi Noem’s department posted on X on New Year’s Eve. It coupled the message with an image of a classic red car on a beach with palm trees. ‘America after 100 million deportations,’ the text overlay on the image said.
Enter Hiroshi Nagai, the 78-year-old illustrator who painted the original picture. “The image is being used without permission from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” he wrote on X, sharing the post by the DHS, “What should I do about this?”
It’s not the first time the DHS has been accused of stealing work in a bid to promote its controversial deportations by trying to invoke an image of America gone by. In July last year, it shared an image of a painting by Morgan Weistling depicting a white frontier family. “Remember your Homeland’s Heritage,” it wrote, getting the painting’s title wrong in the caption.
Weistling condemned the use of his work, writing on his website: “Attention: The recent DHS post on social media using a painting of mine that I painted a few years ago was used without my permission.”
Also in July, the family foundation of artist Thomas Kinkade lamented the agency using the late painter’s work. The organization said the use of “Morning Pledge” in an X post was “unauthorized” and slammed “the sentiment expressed in the post and the deplorable actions that DHS continues to carry out.”
In September, the agency was forced to take down a propaganda video featuring podcaster Theo Von after he demanded that it be removed. In October, ICE, the immigration crackdown squad from DHS, was criticised by the creators of Pokémon for using copyright material without permission in a viral video celebrating the arrest of what it calls “illegal aliens.”
The same month, indie band MGMT forced the agency to take down a similar video that used their music.
“MGMT is aware of ‘Little Dark Age’ being featured in a propaganda video by the Department of Homeland Security and has issued a takedown request for the unauthorized use of their music,” a statement from the band said.
The department also sparred with country singer Zach Bryan after it used his music. Pop sensation Sabrina Carpenter, too, has slammed the Trump administration for using her music.
The agency has also invoked images of E.T. and South Park to make its point. “Wait, so we ARE relevant? #eatabagofd--ks,” the show’s X account responded to the latter.
“DHS will continue using every tool at its disposal to keep the American people informed as our agents work to Make America Safe Again,” a spokesperson told the Daily Beast.
Nagai was also contacted for comment.
