Bizarre new DHS video comparing ICE raids to Pokémon threatens Nintendo backlash

The Department of Homeland Security shared a meme-style video likening ICE raids and capturing undocumented immigrants to Pokémon — prompting a backlash for using the popular Japanese animé partly owned by Nintendo to promote the raids.

The government agency posted the video on X Monday, which opens with exploding doors and masked agents leading accused suspects away, all while set to the Pokémon theme song and captioned with the text: "Gotta Catch ‘Em All."

By Tuesday, the video had more than 24 million views. And even Customs and Border Protection added to the meme, sharing a gif with a dancing Pikachu and saying it was “Border Patrol’s newest recruit.”

Pokémon is part-owned by Nintendo and the company has been alerted about the video, the Daily Beast reported. It's unclear if DHS had permission to use the footage and song.

The last part of the video mocks up the suspects — which the DHS has referred to as "the worst of the worst" — in Pokémon cards.

The DHS has complained that they are facing unfair and "dangerous rhetoric" in the wake of the widely criticized raids.

“While Americans were enjoying their weekends, ICE law enforcement was busy arresting sexual predators, human traffickers, robbers, and gang members—the worst of the worst from across the nation,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Instead of thanking our brave ICE law enforcement, sanctuary politicians and rioters continue to demonize them—comparing them to slave patrols, the Gestapo, and the Secret Police. This dangerous rhetoric is contributing to ICE law enforcement officers facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults against them as they carry out enforcement operations.”

Some footage in the video appears to be from a raid that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been in legal trouble over, according to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, The Beast reports.

“The door DHS shows being blown in, a few seconds into this video, was at a home where multiple U.S. citizens lived. They were never shown a warrant and were handcuffed and led out the shattered door into the light of the fleet of cameras Kristi Noem brought to the raid for PR," Reichlin-Melnick wrote on X.

Noem has been accused of having profane outbursts reacting to a series of critical news reports examining her chaotic leadership and some of the ongoing troubles behind-the-scenes at the agency.