President Donald Trump has revealed his cringeworthy concept to rebrand ICE has seemingly stalled after members of his administration told him they simply “didn’t like it.”
Trump, 79, shared a post in April that read, “I want Trump to change ICE to NICE (National Immigration and Customs Enforcement) so the media has to say NICE agents all day everyday.”
Endorsing the feel-good spin on the acronym of his agency on Truth Social, he added, “GREAT IDEA!!! DO IT.”
Last week, Trump circled back to the “ICE to NICE” concept, even sharing a logo for his ICE rebrand, featuring the bald eagle from the Great Seal of the United States.
Trump’s logo was then dutifully shared on the official Department of Homeland Security X account, with the caption, “National Immigration and Customs Enforcement” and an American flag emoji.
The White House also shared its own post, with Trump’s logo in slightly different colors, mocked up to appear on an agent’s uniform.
During a Monday night dinner in the White House’s Rose Garden in honor of Police Week, Trump also took credit for the idea, which was initially posted in March by MAGA supporter Alyssa Dehen.
She now has her original post pinned to her X account, and after Trump posted his logo last week, she remarked, “It’s happening!”
However, it appears not to be happening, after Trump admitted internal reaction to the concept was not so nice.
After praising Homeland Security, Trump claimed, “I came up with an idea that I thought was brilliant. I think all my ideas are brilliant, actually. But this one, I knew I was brilliant.”
The president said he spoke to border czar Tom Homan, who has advocated for the deportation of illegal immigrants under Trump’s watch.
“So I get a call from Tom Homan. He didn’t like it, but everyone else liked it,” Trump said. “I wanted to change the name of ICE, which is a tough name, you know, to NICE.”
Repeating Dehen’s original concept, Trump said, “When the fake news reports they say, ‘It was a nice day with NICE. We spent a beautiful day with NICE.’ I said, `You will screw them up so badly they won’t know what to do.’ But they said the people that worked there didn’t like the name as much. I love the name.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House, ICE and DHS for comment.
Later during the speech, Trump returned to his ditched concept, saying, “We’re getting a new Homeland Security task force, including ICE, or as I call it, NICE.”
Trump’s attempt to make ICE seem warm and fuzzy follows the negative reaction to the immigration agency and its brutal treatment of citizens.
In two separate incidents in Minneapolis in January, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two unarmed U.S. citizens protesting against ICE raids, were shot and killed by federal agents.
A poll conducted by Politico last month April found that half of those polled, which included a quarter of people who voted for Trump in 2024, said his mass deportation campaign and the widespread deployment of ICE agents was too aggressive.
The reaction to ICE has become a factor in Trump’s dwindling popularity ahead of the crucial midterm elections.
