How Kristi Noem turned ICE into the Proud Boys [View all]

How Kristi Noem turned ICE into the Proud Boys
Footage shows the right-wing group’s founder developing the “recruit giant losers” strategy

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published January 16, 2026 6:45AM (EST)


(Salon) Last week, the Department of Homeland Security used a song beloved by white supremacists in a recruitment ad for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The self-pitying “We’ll Have Our Home Again,” which equates living in a diverse community with being oppressed, has long been an anthem for racist terrorists, neo-Nazi groups and, crucially, the Proud Boys — one of the paramilitary organizations that led the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. As a local journalist in California reported at the time, the Proud Boys covered their faces and sang the song at a November 2020 Sacramento event, vowing to “put ourselves on the line” to help Donald Trump steal the 2020 election.

I’m far from the first observer to notice how much ICE, under the leadership of Homeland Security Secretary — and proud dog-killer — Kristi Noem, has come to resemble the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group founded by Gavin McInnes in 2016. As Wired’s David Gilbert wrote in response to ICE’s recent invasion of Minneapolis, the reason we haven’t seen a resurgence of the Proud Boys in Trump’s second term is that the president’s “militarization” of ICE and “embrace of white nationalist rhetoric” leaves the group “without a role to play.”

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From the beginning, McInnes understood that he could access a large, untapped resource that is America’s loser population. Before Johnny-come-latelies like Elon Musk started assembling mediocre white men who are low on intelligence and high on resentment, McInnes was reeling them in with a steady patter of assurances that he had the secret to restore them to level of social status and respect the modern era had supposedly stolen from them. On his show, he portrayed both women and people of color as imbeciles who cannot handle equality or freedom. He claimed to hold the key to restoring masculinity to his viewers, mostly through bigotry, beer and violence. In retrospect, as ICE agents in Minneapolis have taken to kidnapping, beating and even shooting people on the streets, what really stands out is how much effort McInnes put into creating elaborate justifications for right-wing violence.

“Fighting solves everything,” he said in April 2016. “We need more violence from the Trump people. Trump supporters! Choke a m*****f****r. Choke a b***h. Choke a tr***y. Get your fingers around the windpipe, if they spit on you. That’s assault.”

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Since Good’s killing, there has been an endless stream of videos proving that the real danger comes not from immigrants but from ICE agents beating up teenage Target employees, terrorizing DoorDash drivers and threatening to hurt and kill people who film them. Turns out “protecting” Americans is indistinguishable from raining chaos and violence on their heads to punish them for free speech and dissent. ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/01/16/how-kristi-noem-turned-ice-into-the-proud-boys/