Activist Calls ICE's Raid Videos 'a Publicity Stunt': 'This Is About Optics, Not Public Safety'

An activist harshly criticized the Trump administration's videos of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) raids on undocumented Americans, labeling them "a publicity stunt."

"This has never been about security and safety," Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition advocacy group, told the Guardian. "This is about cruelty, and that's the point."

Since she was confirmed as President Trump's secretary of homeland security just one week ago, Kristi Noem has shared multiple videos donning a bulletproof ICE vest and matching baseball cap.

"7 AM in NYC. Getting the dirt bags off the streets," she wrote in an X post shared Tuesday.

The Trump administration has ordered ICE to target three cities a week and arrest between 1,200 and 1,500 people daily.