A new Immigrations and Customs Enforcement advertisement has turned Santa Claus into an ICE agent as part of a brutal message to illegal immigrants in America.
The holiday-inspired video focuses on a jolly man, wearing Santa’s customary red coat, hat and long white beard, as he straps himself into a bullet proof vest with his weapons around his waist.
It cuts to Santa, wearing an ‘ICE’ logo on his chest, arresting illegal migrants on the street, supported by other officers.
Santa is then seen processing the illegal migrant at a facility before leading him onto a plane to be deported.
The advertisement encourages illegal immigrants hiding in America to ‘avoid Santa’s naughty list’ by ‘self deporting today.’
‘AVOID ICE AIR AND SANTA’S NAUGHTY LIST! Self-deport today with the CBP Home app, earn $3,000 and spend Christmas at home with loved ones,’ a caption for the ad reads.
‘Holiday incentive is valid through the end of 2025.’
The self-deportation stipend has been tripled as part of this Christmas push, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The holiday-inspired video focuses on a jolly man, wearing Santa’s customary red coat, hat and long white beard, as he straps himself into a bullet proof vest with his weapons around his waist.
Santa is seen processing the illegal migrant at a facility before leading him onto a plane to be deported
The stipend would be given to people in the U.S. illegally who sign up to leave the country by the end of the year, DHS said.
The offer would include a free flight back to their home countries.
‘Illegal aliens should take advantage of this gift and self-deport,’ DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said on Monday.
‘If they don’t, we will find them, we will arrest them, and they will never return.’
The Trump administration in March launched a rebranded app called CBP Home to make it easier for people to self-deport.
The app, previously called CBP One, was used by the Biden administration to allow migrants to enter the US legally.
DHS said in May that the average cost to arrest, detain and deport someone without legal status was around $17,000.
Trump, who took office in January promising record levels of deportations, has ramped up crackdown on immigration despite backlash even amongst his base.
The advertisement encourages illegal immigrants hiding in America to ‘avoid Santa’s naughty list’ by ‘self deporting today’
While he has promised to remove one million immigrants each year, his administration has so far managed to deport some 622,000 immigrants this year – including a significant portion who opted to self deport.
But administration insiders have signaled Trump is preparing for a more aggressive immigration crackdown in 2026 with billions in new funding, including by raiding more workplaces — even as backlash builds ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
While federal agents this year conducted many high profile raids on businesses, they largely avoided raiding farms, factories and other businesses that are economically important but known to employ immigrants without legal status.
ICE and Border Patrol will get $170 billion in additional funds through September 2029 – a huge surge of funding over their existing annual budgets of about $19 billion after the Republican-controlled Congress passed a massive spending package in July.
Administration officials say they plan to hire thousands more agents, open new detention centers, pick up more immigrants in local jails and partner with outside companies to track down people without legal status.
In addition to expanding enforcement actions, Trump has stripped hundreds of thousands of Haitian, Venezuelan and Afghan immigrants of temporary legal status, expanding the pool of people who could be deported.
White House border czar Tom Homan argued Trump had delivered on his promise of a historic deportation operation and removing criminals while shutting down illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Homan said the number of arrests will increase sharply as ICE hires more officers and expands detention capacity with the new funding.
Trump, who took office in January promising record levels of deportations, has ramped up crackdown on immigration despite backlash even amongst his base
‘I think you’re going to see the numbers explode greatly next year,’ Homan said.
Homan said the plans ‘absolutely’ include more enforcement actions at workplaces.
The expanded deportation plans come despite growing signs of political backlash ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Miami, one of the cities most affected by Trump’s crackdown because of its large immigrant population, elected its first Democratic mayor in nearly three decades last week in what the mayor-elect said was, in part, a reaction to the president.
Other local elections and polling have suggested rising concern among voters wary of aggressive immigration tactics.
‘People are beginning to see this not as an immigration question anymore as much as it is a violation of rights, a violation of due process and militarizing neighborhoods extra-constitutionally,’ said Mike Madrid, a moderate Republican political strategist.
‘There is no question that is a problem for the president and Republicans.’
Trump’s overall approval rating on immigration policy fell from 50 percent in March, before he launched crackdowns in several major U.S. cities, to 41 percent in mid-December.
