Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem invited Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik on an ICE ride-along in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday.
Raichik proudly snapped some selfies behind an ICE van, documenting her expertise as brokers arrested “dangerous” undocumented males accused of crimes within the state.
“These were criminals.. a gang member.. with long rap sheets. It was a targeted operation to remove criminals from our country who are here illegally,” she wrote on X.
Raichik, who opted to depart her Utah curls and Republican make-up behind—not like ICE Barbie Noem—shared movies from the arrests.
In one in all her movies, Raichik and different members of the group may be seen sticking their cameras into the again of a car following the arrest of Jose Escobar-Robles. Seemingly in misery, Escobar-Robles makes use of his toes to protect himself from the cameras.
“This illegal was so mad he was getting arrested so he tried blocking us and hiding with his CROC,” Raichik wrote on X.
One other lady may be seen in Raichik’s video, leaning into the car to seize footage of him as if she’s filming an animal on the zoo.
The Trump administration and fellow Republicans have been constantly dehumanizing people who find themselves deported, no matter whether or not they have been accused of a criminal offense. In some circumstances, the one crime they’ve been accused of will not be holding a authorized U.S. visa.
The rhetoric the Trump administration makes use of to explain immigrants—referring to a person as “this illegal” and posting movies reminiscent of ASMR deportation clips—is finished in an effort to take away their humanness, making it simpler for individuals to assist these mass deportations.
And Noem’s selection to incorporate Raichik on the ride-along additionally stands to be questioned.
Libs of TikTok has a darkish historical past of inciting violence towards the LGBTQ+ group. What began as a troll account shortly grew right into a platform that led to bomb threats and dying threats towards kids’s hospitals and faculties throughout america.
Raichik, who as soon as hid her id earlier than being unmasked, unfold the narrative that LGBTQ+ individuals have been “pedophiles” and “groomers”—a story now widespread in Russian media.
Now the White Home appears hellbent on together with Raichik in its media pool, kicking out centrist and left-leaning retailers to make room for extremist alt-right creators.
Noem and Raichik’s ride-along additionally marked a giant day for the Trump administration, because the Supreme Courtroom dominated that deportations to the notoriously brutal CECOT jail in El Salvador may proceed, ending the short-term block.
Regardless of President Donald Trump’s goons admitting that they by accident kidnapped and imprisoned a authorized U.S. resident within the Salvadoran jail, the administration nonetheless plans to hold out its plans to deport blindly and shortly.
“You’ll see us continuing to partner with El Salvador. CECOT has the capacity for 40,000 individuals, and [El Salvador President Nayib Bukele] has said they’ll take as many as we want to send,” the Noem advised the New York Submit on Tuesday.
“There’s 14,000 there now,” she continued, “and he said he plans to build another prison right next to it.”
