Cowboys, national landmarks, the founding fathers, and an old country church. These aren’t descriptions of a Norman Rockwell collection or vintage Marlboro cigarette ads; they are all images the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has posted on its official social media accounts in recent weeks. It is a pattern that has become familiar for the agency. Since the start of the second Trump administration, DHS has consistently used its official platforms to push imagery that walks, and often crosses, the line between political messaging and white supremacist dog-whistles.
In October 2025, GPAHE exposed a number of X posts by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that echoed white supremacist and fascistic imagery to recruit new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agents. In January, DHS again posted an ICE recruitment ad overlaid with the words, “WE’LL HAVE OUR HOME AGAIN,” a reference to a song written and popularized by white nationalists, including the racist Proud Boys. The post on Instagram included the song audio but was later removed. The post received widespread press attention and denials of the connection from then-DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. Following GPAHE’s continued coverage, the agency appeared to scale back this style of messaging, with only four other similar recruitment ads being posted since the controversy.
Since Markwayne Mullin’s appointment as DHS Secretary in mid-March, however, similar imagery is being posted once again. Now, the images are leveraging a softer, more aesthetic presentation, which broadens the potential audience and makes accountability for the messaging even more ambiguous. While DHS has continually denied connections to extremist symbolism, this latest evolution of its messaging, and the audiences the images continue to resonate with, show that little has changed inside the agency.
It is also likely no coincidence that just before this recent spate of posts began, DHS reportedly hired Peyton Rollins, a former social media manager from the Department of Labor (DOL), as a digital communications director. Rollins was responsible for posts on DOL accounts that raised alarm over their connections to white nationalist messaging. Rollins’ personal website is full of similar images, some of which include phrases like “Patriotism, not Globalism” and “GLOBALISM HAS FAILED.”
Images from Payton Rollins’ personal portfolio website, some of which include the official seal of the Department of Labor. (Source: Peyton Rollins’ Website)
“Worth Fighting For”
One new genre of posts from DHS features images of Americana overlaid with the words “Worth Fighting For.” The phrase itself is deliberately ambiguous, and DHS does not say what is “worth fighting for,” allowing the message to resonate with a general audience while simultaneously signaling to white nationalist audiences that the Homeland “worth fighting for” is white.
In the comments, the intended audience for these posts becomes abundantly clear, with many users invoking anti-immigration, anti-diversity, and explicitly white nationalist language. Multiple replies to the images referenced “remigration,” a white supremacist policy concept that calls for the forced removal of all immigrants, refugees, and their descendants based on race, ethnicity, culture, being perceived as “non-white, “or a failure to “assimilate.”
User @TheRISEofROD, whose post history includes images of Hitler and other antisemitic material, responds to one of DHS’ posts by promoting remigration. (Source: X).
Take, for example, a late April post of Boston’s iconic Fenway Park, alongside the caption: “Our nation and our people are worth fighting for.” While appearing innocuous on the surface, the use of Fenway Park in the image closely mirrors a video that had been circulating in right-wing online spaces in the weeks prior.
An image of Fenway Park posted by the official DHS Twitter account overlaid with the words “Worth Fighting For.” (Source: X).
On April 2, the official Fenway Park account posted a video intended to celebrate Opening Day, using archival footage of the same event from the 1950s. The footage predates the integration of the Boston Red Sox (which was the last team to do so in 1959), and all the attendees shown in the clips were white. The video was then reposted by white nationalist accounts, and the comments on Fenway Park’s post were flooded with individuals slamming diversity and immigration.
Michael J. Thompson, who goes by the alias “Paul Kersey,” shared the Fenway Park clip to his X account, using it as an opportunity to push the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory. Thompson is a white nationalist who worked for mainstream right-wing media organizations, while simultaneously authoring racist content under the pen name “Paul Kersey.” As “Paul Kersey,” Thompson operates the racist blog “Stuff Black People Don’t Like” and has produced thousands of articles and multiple books that promote white supremacy and the “Great Replacement.”
“Michael J. Thompson, through his alias account @BWLH_”, reposted the Fenway Park video with comments about the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory. (Source: X)
Many of the comments on the original post included racist references to Boston’s Mayor, Michelle Wu, the first Asian American woman to hold that position. On X, the comments were so inflammatory that the account had to limit who could reply to the post. At least one account on X made a direct connection to DHS’ previous posts, commenting on the controversial “WE’LL HAVE OUR HOME AGAIN” image the agency had posted in January. While the overlap in imagery does not automatically confirm a connection, the image, combined with DHS’ dubious history of questionable posts, suggests it is unlikely that the agency was unaware of the connections they were making.
“One Homeland Under God”
Since Easter, the official DHS account has also put up at least 10 posts that included references to Christianity or the Bible, a further indication of this administration’s desire to push Christian nationalist ideas in every corner of American government. These posts transcend generic acknowledgments of religion or a holiday, and instead seek to frame Christianity as directly related to national identity and public duty.
DHS has also posted several historical images, including those of George Washington, alongside biblical verses or crosses, seeking to directly tie American history and historical figures to Christianity. These posts are clearly part of broader efforts by the Trump administration to rewrite America’s history and founding as Christian. In reality, while many historians believe that George Washington believed in a Christian higher power, he, along with many other founding fathers, was an adamant advocate for religious freedom. In a letter to the United Baptist Churches of Virginia, Washington reassured them that “no one would be more zealous” than he in the effort to “establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny.”
An image of a kneeling George Washington posted by the official DHS Twitter account overlaid with the words “FAITH IN GOD AND COUNTRY.” (Source: X).
These posts from DHS are also not happening in isolation. Across the administration, a pattern of Christian nationalist influence has become increasingly visible in the federal government. Examples range from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth running Christian worship services inside the Pentagon, including one led by Doug Wilson, a pastor known for opposing women’s suffrage, using anti-LGBTQ+ slurs, and writing a book that downplayed the horrors of American slavery, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio establishing an anonymous tip line at the Department for employees to report anti-Christian bias.
For those familiar with Christian nationalist theology, the symbolism of official government accounts posting this content is difficult to miss. A dominant organizing framework in the movement is the “Seven Mountain Mandate,” which GPAHE has exposed as a primary doctrine driving the actions of the second Trump administration. The mandate posits that Christians must gain control over seven key spheres of society, with the government sitting at the top of that list. These posts are just one piece of an effort to conquer the first mountain.
At best, DHS is indifferent to how its messaging is being used and interpreted. At worst, it is deliberately crafting content that affirms what its supporters already believe: that white, Christian Americans are under threat, and DHS’ actions to stop that “threat,” no matter how inappropriate or illegal, are justified. Regardless of intention, the outcome is the same: a federal agency is normalizing the idea that the only Homeland that DHS and the rest of the federal government find worthy of its protection is a white, Christian one.
