Pokémon is saying it did not give the Department of Homeland Security permission to use its branding for an ICE deportation raid video.
Some footage in the video appears to be from a raid that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has been in legal trouble over and could land her with a subpoena, the Daily Beast reports.
DHS shared the meme-style video likening ICE raids and capturing undocumented immigrants to Pokémon and using arrested immigrants as "cards" mocking the suspects in the same style as the popular Japanese animé, which is partly owned by Nintendo.
Now fans are calling on Nintendo and Pokémon Company International to sue the government over its abuse of intellectual property.
“We are aware of a recent video posted by the Department of Homeland Security that includes imagery and language associated with our brand," a spokesperson for Pokémon Company International told the Daily Beast.
“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.”
DHS 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 Wednesday morning, the video had more than 67 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.”
“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," Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, wrote on X.