The Department of Homeland Security has taken its holiday-themed campaign for mass deportations to new lows with a video that turns Santa Claus into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
Under the direction of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the department has attempted to glamorize its raids by creating glossy videos, which have sometimes earned the ire of musicians whose work is used as soundtracks. Even a former DHS chief of staff under Trump has called them “creepy,” “stupid,” and “wildly irresponsible.”
The latest offering is unlikely to change the agency’s reputation. “AVOID ICE AIR AND SANTA’S NAUGHTY LIST!” the official DHS X page posted on Monday alongside a video of Santa working for ICE.
The cringeworthy artificial intelligence-generated clip shows Saint Nick suiting up for an evening on the ICE beat, cuffing arrestees, booking them at a grim-looking processing facility and loading people onto a plane to be deported. It ends with the message, “Merry Christmas.”
The video also served as the department’s latest effort to popularize its CBP Home app, a rebranded version of the Biden-era CBP One platform that signals intent to deport and, if approved, gives travel assistance and financial support.
“Self-deport today with the CBP Home app, earn $3,000 and spend Christmas at home with loved ones. Holiday incentive is valid through the end of 2025,” the rest of the X message from DHS read.
It comes after Noem, 54, used an appearance on Fox & Friends to urge “illegal aliens” to leave voluntarily using the app—or face arrest and removal. “If you voluntarily want to go home now… we will give you $3,000," she said.
She added on X that people ”should take advantage of this gift and self-deport because if they don’t, we will find them, we will arrest them, and they will not return."
DHS says the $3,000 payment is available to eligible participants who register and self-deport by Dec. 31, 2025, and is paid once the government confirms the individual has left. Its previous self-deportation “bonus” was $1,000.
DHS argues the stipend is cheaper than a full enforcement case, which it has estimated at roughly $17,000 per removal.
But the app’s take-up has been a problem for months. Internal DHS figures obtained by The Atlantic showed that CBP Home logged roughly 35,000 “exits” over nine months, despite a government advertising blitz costing more than $200 million.
