These videos, equally tense and bombastic, are clearly AI-generated. They are part of a group of anti-ICE AI content that is spreading on social media as the federal occupation of Minneapolis — part of the Trump administration’s attack on immigrants — resulted in agents killing two US citizens in January. Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, and Alex Pretty, a 37-year-old US Department of Veterans Affairs ICU nurse, were both unarmed when they were fatally shot by government officers.
In America, the role of imagination in times of political unrest – imagining a better world and taking action to make it true – is paramount. The video, which has been viewed millions of times on Facebook and Instagram, offers a blend of revisionist justice that imagines a digital multiverse where ICE agents are just like us: not above the rule of law.
AI creator Nicholas Arter says that overall, the anti-ICE AI videos are a way for people to push back against the distortions portrayed by the Trump administration and MAGA influencers to justify their actions. “Over the past decade, social media played its role by giving voice to those who did not have access to traditional media. It is not surprising that with AI, another major technological shift, we are seeing similar patterns repeated, with people using the tools available to express emotions, fear or resistance.” But though they may feel cathartic, the videos themselves are a kind of distortion. This could have consequences, whether it’s reinforcing the narrative that people of color are agitators, or making the public more skeptical of the actual video evidence.
An account running under the name Mike Wayne, whose owner declined multiple requests for comment, appears to be one of the most prolific posters of the genre. The account has uploaded more than 1,000 videos to its Instagram and Facebook pages since Good’s shooting on January 7, often featuring people of color fighting ICE agents. Today, the clips read like digital counternarratives: ICE agents doing a perp walk, an officer being slapped by a Latina woman, a priest pushing masked officers out the door of his church, declaring, “I don’t know what god you worship, maybe an orange, but my god is love.” (In fact, federal agents arrested nearly 100 clergy members last week during a protest at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, where faith leaders said an estimated 2,000 people were deported.)
The videos create an alternate timeline where the passion and anger of Americans protesting the federal takeover of their cities doesn’t cost lives – and accountability actually matters. One of Wayne’s most viewed clips is of an ICE agent fighting off white tailgaters at a sporting event, a scene that looks so surreal that it has been viewed 11 million times in less than 72 hours. A man in the background says, “Down with fascism.” Humor also plays an important role in these fan-fiction style videos. In a clip posted by the meme account RealStrangeAI, four drag queens in neon wigs chase ICE officers through a St. Paul neighborhood.
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