Cardi B Goes to War With DHS After Her Anti-ICE Diss
She’s the latest artist to become a lightning rod for MAGA rage.

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Rapper Cardi B has declared war on the Department of Homeland Security by calling out the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files.
It comes after the “I Like It” singer threatened to “jump” any ICE agents that may have been lurking in the crowd at her show in Palm Desert, Calif., on Wednesday. Her war cry incensed MAGA, with mouthpieces and official accounts melting down, including DHS and Trump podcast guru Alex Bruesewitz.
In a post on X, DHS reshared a TMZ article about the 33-year-old’s comments at the show, adding the caption, “As long as she doesn’t drug and rob our agents, we’ll consider that an improvement over her past behavior.”
In 2019, a video emerged of Cardi B saying that before becoming famous and while working as a stripper, she drugged and robbed men who wanted to have sex with her. In March that year, she defended the footage from 2016, saying, “Whether or not they were poor choices at the time, I did what I had to do to survive. I never claimed to be perfect or come from a perfect world.”
Replying to DHS, the rapper clapped back, sharing the agency’s message and adding her own: “If we talking about drugs let’s talk about Epstein and friends drugging underage girls to rape them. Why yall don’t wanna talk about the Epstein files?”
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President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House has been rocked by continued revelations about child predator Jeffrey Epstein, at one point a close friend of the world’s most powerful man.

Cardi B/X
Pressure to release the FBI’s investigative files mounted to the point that Congress passed a law mandating they be published for the world to see. The latest 3 million documents released are still making headlines and triggering consequences for those known to have associated with the sex trafficker.

Trump and Epstein eventually fell out in the mid-2000s.
Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images
However, the Department of Justice sparked outrage by waiting until the end of January to release the 3 million documents, more than a month after Congress’ deadline. The tranche of files also contained unredacted nude photos of Epstein victims, while leaving names of non-victims blacked out.
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Cardi B joins a growing chorus of public figures, including Jimmy Kimmel and Joe Rogan, who are criticizing the release and demanding greater government engagement with the files.

Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice has come under fire over its handling of the files.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
The Grammy winner’s Palm Desert show was the opening night of her Little Miss Drama tour of North America. During the performance, she baited the administration, saying, “F--- ICE,” and adding, “B---h, if ICE come in here, we’re going to jump they a-ses. B---h, I got some bear mace in the back. They ain’t taking my fans, b---h. Let’s go.”
She was met with huge cheers.
Public support for ICE is waning amid reports of violations of due process for detainees, heavy-handed tactics, misconduct, and the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota. Eyebrows have also been raised over the government’s claims that it is only targeting the “worst of the worst” criminals.
After calling out ICE, Cardi B then launched into “I Like It,” a collaboration with Colombian artist J Balvin and Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny. The latter has become a lightning rod for MAGA fury after he headlined the Super Bowl halftime show.
Now it looks like the “WAP” singer will be right there next to him, with her defiant on-stage message drawing some MAGA fury of her own.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris’ HQ account shared Cardi B’s tour message.
Screenshot/Headquarters/X
Trump aide Bruesewitz called the rapper “an absolutely disgusting person” and claimed, “Wow @iamcardib is now trying to incite violence against our ICE officers,” on X.
Meanwhile, other MAGA accounts called for her arrest “for threats against law enforcement!” and deportation, despite her being a U.S. citizen who was born in New York.
Her message, meanwhile, was amplified by former Vice President Kamala Harris’s X account, Headquarters.
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