Photograph by Erin Cazes; The Come Up Show from Canada – CC BY 2.0
On December 8th, the White House posted a video showcasing ICE’s cruelty set to the track of grammy-award winning artist SZA’s “Big Boys.” The video was captioned, “WE HEARD IT’S CUFFING SZN. Bad news for criminal illegal aliens. Great news for America.”
SZA herself promptly responded via X, “White House rage baiting artists for free promo is PEAK DARK,” calling the tactic “Evil n Boring.”
This is not the first time the White House has exploited popular artists and their music. In November, the White House used an Olivia Rodrigo track to promote self-deportations. More recently, they posted a video of ICE detaining immigrants with Sabrina Carpenter’s “Juno” playing in the background. Like SZA, both artists denounced the White House’s actions.
For the Trump White House, these stunts serve two purposes. First, they normalize brutality — and what Carpenter refers to as an “inhumane agenda” — by dressing it in a pop filter. Second, as SZA points out, they’re engagement farming. They’re deliberating using music, without permission, to upset artists and instigate an online feud.
Why do this? To spark fear. Every time one of these incidents happens, it gains traction on social media and several news pieces and op-eds (like this one) are written about it. You Google Sabrina Carpenter and you might find an article about Trump’s ICE raids. Same with Olivia Rodrigo and now SZA. The point is to make Trump’s violence unavoidable.
Consider this: while ICE raids have intensified during the Trump administration, the administration has also heavily pushed for undocumented immigrants to “self-deport.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) even offered immigrants travel assistance and a $1,000 stipend to leave the country. As they note, the average cost of arresting, detaining, and removing an undocumented immigrant is $17,121. Self-deportation is more cost effective.
However, DHS isn’t just politely asking immigrants to leave. They’re pressuring them as part of a long-standing tactic called “attrition through enforcement.” The basic strategy here is to create conditions so hostile and restrictive that undocumented immigrants willingly decide to leave. Self-deportation by fear and coercion.
This same strategy is why the Trump administration would launch an entire aerial and ground assault on a Chicago apartment building. Its political theater meant to spark fear. The bigger the stunt, the more fear they hope it will produce.
Inciting conflicts with popular artists contributes to this. It’s a cheap and easy way to remind undocumented immigrants that the Trump administration is hunting them. Why else would they choose artists like Rordigo, Carpenter, and SZA, who all advocate for progressive causes? The Trump administration wants the outrage. SZA is right. They are intentionally rage-baiting.
But if that’s true, then shouldn’t artists just ignore them? Isn’t this op-ed part of the problem?
No — Sabrina, Olivia, and SZA should denounce the violence of ICE and the Trump administration. Each act of protest makes sure more vulnerable people know that many Americans reject these tactics — and support the rights and dignity of immigrants. If someone living in fear looks up their favorite artist, they should see people standing with them.
Doing this alone won’t stop the Trump administration. But it’s an important step. For people who are afraid and feel silenced by the current administration, knowing that so many people — including their favorite artists — support them can be empowering. Ultimately, what we need is community mobilization. This won’t happen if people are living in fear.
Artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, and SZA can provide the hope and sense of togetherness from which a movement can be built.
The post Pop Stars Keep Denouncing ICE appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jordan Liz.