AI-Generated Anti-ICE Videos Get the Fanfic Treatment

At first glance, the fight in the video seems shocking. Bat-wielding New York school principal stops masked ICE Agents after attempting to enter the building, and instead of violence, the encounter breaks out to the cheers of spectators. “Let me show you why they call me Bat Girl,” she told them. In other extracts like this one, a waiter throws a bowl of hot noodles at two officers dining in a Chinese restaurant, and a store owner flexes his Fourth Amendment rights. None of the encounters ends in bloodshed.

The videos, both tense and bombastic, are also clearly AI-generated. They are part of a constellation of anti-ICE AI content spreading across social media as the federal occupation of Minneapolis — part of the Trump administration’s attack on immigrants — resulted in the deaths of two U.S. citizens by agents in January. Both Renee Nicole Gooda 37-year-old mother of three, and Alex Prettia 37-year-old U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs critical care nurse, was unarmed when she was shot and killed by government officials.

In America, the role of fantasy– imagining a better world and implementing actions to make it a reality – is essential in times of political unrest. The videos, which have millions of views on Facebook and Instagram, offer a blend of revisionist justice that imagines a digital multiverse where ICE agents are like us: not above the rule of law.

Overall, anti-ICE AI videos are a way for people to fight against distortions painted by the Trump administration and MAGA influencers to justify their actions, says AI creator Nicholas Arter. “Over the past decade, social media has fulfilled this role by giving voice to people who didn’t have access to traditional media. It’s no surprise that with AI, another major technological change, we’re seeing similar patterns repeating themselves, with people using available tools to express their emotions, fears, or resistance.” But while they may seem cathartic, the videos themselves are also a kind of distortion. This can have consequences, whether it’s reinforcing the narrative that people of color are agitators or making the public more skeptical of actual video evidence.

An account named Mike Wayne, whose owner has declined several requests, appears to be one of the most prolific posters of the genre. The account has uploaded more than 1,000 videos, often of people of color fighting ICE agents, to its Instagram and Facebook pages since Good was filmed on January 7. Tonally, the clips read like digital counter-narratives: a clip of ICE agents taking a criminal marcha latin woman slaps an officer or priest pushing masked officials from the doors of his church, announcing: “I don’t know what god you worship, maybe an orange god, but my god is love. (In fact, federal agents arrested about 100 clergy last week during a protest at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, from where religious leaders said about 2,000 people were deported.)

The videos create an alternate timeline, where the passion and anger of Americans resisting the federal occupation of their cities does not cost lives – and where accountability actually matters. One of the Waynes most viewed clips is of an ICE agent battling white tailgaters at a sporting event, a vision apparently so surreal that it was viewed 11 million times in less than 72 hours. “Down with fascism,” says someone in the background. Humor also plays an important role in these fanfiction style videos. In a clip posted by the meme account RealStrangeAI, four drag queens wearing neon wigs, chase ICE agents through a St. Paul neighborhood.