White House shares ‘ASMR’ video of illegal migrant deportation flight
The White House released an “ASMR” video of illegal migrants being deported that racked up more than 70 million views in less than 24 hours.
Captioning the video “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight,” the White House’s official X account posted on Tuesday afternoon.
ASMR, or “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response,” refers to a tingling sensation felt in response to certain unusual sounds.
The video was first shared earlier on Tuesday by the Seattle office of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
“REMOVAL FLIGHT. A group of undocumented aliens are flown from Seattle as part of a process to finalize return to their home countries,” the caption read.
The 41-second clip, which features no words, opens with a shot of an officer standing behind a migrant in shackles as he appears to roll down the collar of their jacket or hooded sweatshirt.
It then shows an officer in an ICE windbreaker jacket identifying him as a member of the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations unit.
Other shots in the video include one of an immigrant in handcuffs and with his ankles in chains is seen walking past an officer.
Another shot shows a closeup of a different man having his handcuffs linked together and a different immigrant’s feet in chains as he walks up the stairway to board a waiting aircraft.
The clip was first reposted by the White House’s official X account without commentary shortly before 12:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Less than 90 minutes later, the account posted an edited version of the clip touting it as “ASMR.”
Elon Musk quickly reposted the White House’s edited version, writing “Haha Wow,” alongside it.
The Tesla CEO has supported President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on undocumented immigrants as part of his second term in the White House.
“We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump said in his inauguration speech last month.
Some X users were supportive of the video, with one X user writing, “Keep it up! Love this!”
“Thank you, send them all back,” a second wrote.
But several comments were also critical of the way the video was shared with a caption many viewed as flippant, even if they were supportive of Trump’s immigration policies.
“I think you can be anti-illegal immigration and still think this is at best bizarre,” one X user wrote.
“We can enforce our laws without making it a spectacle and humiliating people,” added a second.
