At a Glance
- Right-wing influencers are flooding Minneapolis with content portraying the city as lawless following the ICE killing of Renee Nicole Good
- Nick Sortor, Cam Higby, and others are filming protesters and interviewing ICE agents to justify the agent’s actions
- The content mirrors DHS messaging that the shooting was self-defense
- ICE plans to spend $100 million on content creators and targeted ads to recruit deportation officers
Why it matters: The coordinated media blitz could shape public opinion and policy around immigration enforcement tactics
Right-wing content creators have descended on Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by a federal agent, producing a stream of videos and posts that portray the city as chaotic and justify the agent’s actions.
The influencers began arriving shortly after Good’s death, with creators like Nick Sortor and Cam Higby filming protesters and interviewing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Their content appears designed to paint Minneapolis as lawless and the actions of ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who reportedly shot and killed Good, as necessary self-defense.
Sortor enthusiastically posted about ICE tactics on Sunday: “HELL YES! ICE just SMASHED a leftist activist’s car window in and pulled them out after they interfered in ICE’s operations in Minneapolis. MORE OF THIS! Consequences must be STEEP!”
The creators have focused heavily on protesters allegedly using personal vehicles and blocking traffic to obstruct ICE operations. Kevin Posobiec, a creator for the far-right Human Events website, highlighted how protesters seemingly shut down downtown Minneapolis traffic in a Friday video post: “Protestors are in hi-vis safety vests manipulating traffic. We’re out here.”
These clips gain massive reach through right-wing aggregation accounts. End Wokeness and influencers like Matt Walsh from the Daily Wire repost the content to millions of followers. The videos then become talking points across social media and sometimes appear on cable television as evidence to justify the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge.
The content narrative aligns directly with Department of Homeland Security messaging. In a Monday Fox News interview, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed Ross was protecting himself and fellow officers.
“[The officer] followed his training. He was in fear for his life. He was in fear for the law enforcement officers’ around his lives,” McLaughlin stated. “And that’s when he followed his training and this situation turned deadly.”
The Trump administration has been preparing for this media strategy for months. Since last summer, right-wing influencers have embedded with immigration officials during ICE raids to justify administration crackdowns. With an agent now under scrutiny for Good’s killing, many of these same influencers are executing a familiar playbook.
The right-wing creator influx began after Nick Shirley’s December YouTube video went viral. The video claimed to uncover a $100 million fraud scheme involving Somali child care centers, garnering over 3 million views despite Minnesota outlets covering similar stories for years. Elon Musk and other prominent right-wing figures reposted clips from the video.
A law enforcement officer told CNN earlier this month that Shirley’s video partially prompted DHS’s surge of agents to Minnesota.
ICE’s influencer operations are expanding significantly. The Washington Post reported last month that the agency plans to spend approximately $100 million on content creators and geo-targeted internet ads to recruit future deportation officers.
The coordinated effort between federal agencies and right-wing media figures represents a growing trend of using social media influencers to shape public perception of immigration enforcement actions. As ICE continues expanding its digital outreach, the agency appears committed to leveraging content creators to both justify current operations and recruit personnel for future enforcement activities.
