“Get ready with me as an absolute piece of shit ICE agent,” one such video begins, posted by comedian Adam Macias. These videos are comedic skits, rather than from the social media accounts of actual ICE agents, but have quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of views as the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency faces intense backlash after the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.
“I wake up screaming and shooting. Not because I’m scared but because my sleep paralysis demon looks like someone’s tía,” the skit begins (tia is Spanish for aunt). “I start the day off with a shower but no matter how hard I try I just can’t seem to get clean,” it continues.
After doing laundry and eating breakfast, the “ICE agent” proceeds to have his second shower of the day. “Time for some vocal warm ups,” he then says. “Self defense, self defense”, he yells repeatedly whilst staring himself down in the mirror.
“Time to go to work,” he continues. “My commute isn’t far because I’m literally about to go deport my neighbor.”
On Wednesday, January 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Good in her car as she was protesting against the agency’s operations in the Twin Cities. The killing sparked widespread backlash and protests, both on and offline, with thousands in attendance at the “ICE out of Minnesota” rally and march over the weekend.
“Wow what a lovely, beautiful day to harass people who are at work,” another TikTok creator quips, in a video titled ‘How ICE agents wake up in the morning’, viewed almost 3 million times.
“I hope I get to beat up a pregnant woman,” he says, referencing a recent incident where ICE agents detained a woman who was allegedly pregnant, kneeling on her and dragging her through the snow.
“Maybe today I’ll get a DUI with my children in the backseat,” he added, again referencing a real incident where an ICE agent was arrested for allegedly driving drunk while he had two young children in his vehicle.
“Nobody cared who I was until I put on the mask,” he concluded the video (a reference from The Dark Knight Rises). “Now they just hate me.”
Since July, there have been 13 recorded instances of ICE agents firing at or into civilian vehicles, a recent investigation by the Wall Street Journal found. In eight of those instances, civilians were shot, and two confirmed dead. At least five were U.S. citizens.
Whether it’s in-person demonstrations or posting skits online, Americans aren’t afraid to make their feelings known. As one comment read: “This is actually an official ICE training video.”