Colorado Agency Says DHS-Shared ICE Recruitment Posts Echo White-Supremacist Symbols, Could Fuel Violence

The Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC) has warned that recent ICE recruitment posts shared from an official Department of Homeland Security (DHS) account contain imagery and language aligned with white-supremacist ideology — and that those posts could create a "permissive environment" for violence against people perceived to be immigrants.

What CIAC Found

Internal records obtained by The Intercept and summarized in a March CIAC bulletin indicate the center concluded there is a "permissive environment to engage in vigilante action and/or violence against individuals perceived to be immigrants." CIAC identified specific DHS-shared posts that quoted lyrics from the song "We’ll Have Our Home Again," a chant often used by white nationalists and by the right-wing group Patriot Front.

"We’ll have our home again" — text overlaid on an image of a cowboy on horseback with a mountain and a stealth bomber — included a link to ICE’s recruitment page. Another post reproduced the lines, "Oh by God we’ll have our home again. By God, we’ll have our home again."

Those opening lyrics also appeared at the start of the manifesto of a white supremacist who killed three people at a Dollar General in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2023. CIAC warned that such references could embolden violent extremists outside government and lead them to view ICE personnel, and by extension other law enforcement and officials, as supportive of or complicit in white supremacy.

One of the ICE recruitment posts made by DHS that experts say was a white nationalist dog whistle. / DHS

Language With Dangerous Roots

The bulletin additionally called attention to the use of the term "reimigration" in recruitment materials — a term with roots in Nazi-era rhetoric that has been repurposed by neo-Nazi conspiracists who promote the so-called "Great Replacement" theory.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment. CIAC is part of Colorado’s Department of Public Safety, the state agency responsible for gathering, analyzing and sharing threat information to prevent acts of terrorism and other public-safety risks across Colorado and nationwide.

Why it matters: Public messaging from government accounts can unintentionally signal sympathy with extremist themes, which may radicalize or embolden violent actors. CIAC’s bulletin underscores the need for careful review of recruitment materials and prompt responses from agencies when concerns are raised.