The Department of Homeland Security has used yet another video game franchise as ICE recruitment material, posting Halo images while comparing undocumented immigrants to the franchise’s villains, The Flood.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is facing scrutiny once again after sharing images from the first-person shooter game Halo on its official X account to recruit new ICE officers.
In the image, the DHS would compare undocumented immigrants to the Halo franchise’s parasitic primary villains, The Flood, who threaten to assimilate all life.
Using video games and popular media against the wishes of their creators is nothing new for the DHS, as the government body would face backlash after using the Pokémon theme song in a video along with ICE raids in September, with the caption “Gotta catch ’em all”.
The Pokémon company would later tell The Daily Beast that “our company was not involved in the creation or distribution of this content, and permission was not granted for the use of our intellectual property.”
What’s most bizarre about the DHS’s post is that it follows an exchange between the Trump administration and US video game retailer GameStop. A post would go viral, announcing that Trump had presided over the end of the ‘Console Wars’ after the Halo: Combat Evolved remake was announced for PlayStation next year. GameStop CEO and chairman Ryan Cohen, a vocal supporter of Trump, would weigh in, showing a picture of Trump shaking hands with Halo‘s protagonist Master Chief.
The White House would then share an AI image of Donald Trump donning Master Chief’s armour, wielding an energy sword from the game. In a less flattering follow-up, GameStop’s own X account would share a photoshopped image of Master Chief with Trump’s mugshot photo while also adding the meme-ified version of Vice President JD Vance’s head swapped onto what might be Cortana.
As of writing, Microsoft has declined to comment on the DHS’s post or the White House’s and GameStop’s posts.
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