DHS "hunt them down" messaging and enforcement harms to U.S. citizens

Case

DHS has used explicitly militarized 'hunt them down' language — paired with religious and pop-culture references — in official messaging about immigration enforcement, while separately, ICE/CBP enforcement under reduced training standards has resulted in U.S. citizens being wrongly detained, and in at least two cases (Minneapolis, Jan. 2026) fatally shot, drawing formal congressional oversight demands.

DHS "hunt them down" video (July 2025)
On July 28, 2025, DHS posted a video to its official X account showing Border Patrol's special operations group in tactical gear, captioned as a warning to 'EVERY CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIEN IN AMERICA' that they were coming to 'hunt them down.' The video overlaid a Bible verse (Proverbs 28:1: 'The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion') with the opening monologue from the film 'The Batman' ('They think I'm hiding in the shadow, but I am the shadow'). Secretary Kristi Noem, a self-described conservative Christian, has publicly tied her faith to her DHS leadership.

Enforcement harms to U.S. citizens
Despite ICE policy stating it 'cannot assert its civil immigration enforcement authority to arrest and/or detain a U.S. citizen,' multiple citizens have been wrongly stopped, detained, or deported since enforcement escalated in 2025; 48 House Democrats, led by Sens. Warren, Padilla and Kelly and Reps. Correa and Goldman, formally asked DHS's Inspector General in August 2025 to investigate the pattern, citing CNN and Washington Post reporting on citizens being detained.
In January 2026, ICE agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis; a New York Times report found the man killed was holding a phone, not a gun. A Senate letter to Secretary Noem (Sens. Heinrich, Welch and others) stated ICE agents had shot 12 people since September 2025 (4 fatal), that 2025 was ICE's deadliest custody year in two decades (32 deaths, per a Guardian analysis), with CBP reporting 17 more deaths, and tied this to officer training being cut from 16 weeks to about 6.5 weeks amid a hiring surge of over 12,000 new ICE officers since January 2025. The letter also cited a May 2025 ICE memo (only publicly reported later) directing agents to enter residences without judicial warrants.

Note
The video's text targeted 'criminal illegal aliens,' not citizens; the harm to citizens comes from separately documented enforcement outcomes, which DHS disputes in at least one case.

Sources
[1] Religion News Service (https://religionnews.com/2025/08/19/homeland-security-quotes-bible-in-messaging-on-immigration-enforcement/)
[2] Sen. Welch press release (https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-to-noem-a-mission-as-important-as-protecting-our-homeland-cannot-be-placed-under-your-leadership/)
[3] Sen. Warren press release (https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-kelly-padilla-correa-goldman-lead-push-for-homeland-security-department-to-investigate-arrests-detention-and-deportation-of-u-s-citizens/)
[4] NYT (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-alex-pretti-timeline.html)
[5] NBC News (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-shootings-list-border-patrol-trump-immigration-operations-rcna254202)
[6] letter to DHS OIG (https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_from_warren_members_of_congress_on_us_citizens_immigration_enforcement_letter.pdf)
[7] Sen. Heinrich letter to Noem (https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_noem.pdf)
[8] The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/04/ice-2025-deaths-timeline)

Connections

Same context — Antifa terrorist designation and NSPM-7 domestic terrorism memo
NSPM-7 provides the policy/legal framing (broad domestic terrorism indicators) that DHS's militarized enforcement rhetoric operates alongside — same administration, same period, same 'righteous enforcement against threats' narrative.

Same context — ICE agent conduct, vetting and accountability during the 2025-2026 hiring surge
That entry covers DHS messaging and enforcement harms to U.S. citizens under reduced training standards; this one covers the vetting, training and accountability questions around ICE's expanded workforce.

Same context — ICE detention funding surge and private contractor revenue (2025-2026)
The same enforcement build-up: this entry covers the money and detention capacity, that one covers the messaging and harms to U.S. citizens.

Same context — Marble Hill ICE shooting and removal of Oscar Belgal from hospital (Oct. 2026)
Another documented use-of-force incident during the same enforcement escalation; that entry covers shootings of U.S. citizens, while Belgal is reported by DHS to be undocumented.

Same context — NSPM-7 in practice: first prosecutions and civil society financial surveillance (2026)
Same city, same period (Jan.-June 2026): ICE undercover infiltration of Minneapolis protest groups happened alongside the fatal shootings of citizens Good and Pretti during immigration enforcement there.

Same context — Ohio Immigrant Alliance "Worst of the Worst" report: 152 DHS agents and contractors accused of abuse
Both concern enforcement culture and harms at DHS; the report's authors argue the culture of the agencies is part of the problem.

Shared mechanism — Trump's Truth Social threats to "hunt down" and jail critics and opponents
Same 'hunt down' militarized language, used within roughly a year of each other by DHS and Trump personally, against different targets (immigrants vs. government leakers/critics).