Less than two days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made a controversial Instagram recruitment post featuring the song “We’ll Have Our Home Again” by Pine Tree Riots, popular in neo-Nazi circles. This follows a trend of the DHS incorporating music linked to extremist ideology into its outreach. Experts, including Alice Marwick, highlighted that this reflects a shift from dog whistles used by supporters to overt messaging from the administration itself, raising concerns about cultural awareness and judgment.
Notably, the song’s lyrics were connected to a manifesto by Ryan Christopher Palmeter, a white supremacist responsible for the Jacksonville Dollar General shooting in 2023. The DHS’s choice to use such music directly after a high-profile fatality suggests intentional messaging aimed at specific audiences, according to social media commentator Brian Hansbury.
The DHS has faced backlash in the past for using mainstream music in its messaging, with several artists condemning the agency’s tactics. Over the past year, DHS has relied on themes of national decline and cultural threat, which echo white nationalist narratives. Researchers note that such messaging aligns with far-right memes that frame civilizational narratives around decline and reclamation, common in online extremist culture.
The song in question has historical ties to nationalist movements and has been repurposed by far-right groups, echoing themes of territorial recovery and racial purity. DHS’s use of such imagery further blurs the line between law enforcement and extremist rhetoric, highlighting a concerning openness to white supremacist ideology in federal messaging.
