The Department of Homeland Security, under Kristi Noem, is using old-fashioned, racially charged art to push a harsh immigration agenda — and critics say it looks like propaganda straight out of the 1800s.
In July, DHS’s official X (formerly Twitter) account began posting nostalgic paintings of white pioneers and American flags, all meant to evoke a romanticized version of the country’s past — one where white settlers are heroes, and everyone else is pushed out of the frame.
One post featured American Progress (1872) by John Gast. It shows a glowing “Lady Liberty” flying over western plains as white settlers move westward and Native Americans flee into the shadows. Another post included A Prayer for a New Life by Morgan Weistling — a white pioneer family huddled in the back of a covered wagon, captioned, “Remember your Homeland’s Heritage.” A third, Morning Pledge by Thomas Kinkade, shows small-town kids walking toward the American flag.
Critics say these paintings aren’t innocent. They’re political — and they’re being used without permission.
Weistling says he was never asked. Kinkade’s family is furious. “To see his work used in ways that promote exclusion and division betrays the very heart of what he stood for,” the Kinkade Family Foundation said. “That vision wasn’t meant for a select few, but for everyone.”
Kinkade, who died in 2012, painted scenes of peace and belonging. He grew up poor, battled addiction, and dedicated his art to helping people feel safe. His foundation still sends out art therapy kits to struggling communities — including immigrants and farmworkers.
DHS, however, is using his work to sell a vision of America where only certain people belong.
The department is leaning hard into frontier imagery — cowboys, pioneers, flags — while it ramps up mass deportations under Trump’s second-term campaign. DHS has even posted posters urging people to “Defend the Homeland, Join ICE Today,” offering $50,000 bonuses to new agents.
In a statement, DHS said it was simply honoring “artwork that celebrates America’s heritage and history.” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin added: “If the media needs a history lesson… we are happy to send them a history textbook.”
But historians aren’t buying it.
“This is not about history,” said Richard White, professor emeritus at Stanford and a leading expert on the American West. “It’s a mythic narrative.” He says American Progress was already a lie when it was painted — and now, it’s being used to distract from what’s actually happening on U.S. streets, where federal agents are arresting immigrants in military-style raids.
He compares the scenes in Los Angeles to Nazi Germany. “Masked federal immigration agents and military troops… it’s Gestapo,” he said.
Journalist Spencer Ackerman, who wrote Reign of Terror, agrees. He says the use of the word “homeland” has always had eerie, authoritarian roots — especially post-9/11. “It was definitely a crypto-right wing move from the start,” he said.
Before 2001, the word “homeland” wasn’t even common in American politics. Now, it’s being paired with images of white families and 1950s-style small towns — while ICE conducts sweeps through immigrant neighborhoods.
Ackerman calls it “classic fascist propaganda.”
“This is a turn. This is different,” he said. “This is very racialized, very essentialized propaganda that DHS did not previously explicitly traffic in.”
Trump and Noem are pushing it further. Noem, nicknamed “ICE Barbie” by critics, is regularly photographed in cowboy hats and tactical gear, posing with DHS agents. The message is clear: this is a war, and they want Americans to pick a side.
Even Trump’s past executive orders point in this direction — like his 2020 demand that all federal buildings be designed in a “classical” style, mimicking the look of ancient empires.
Historian Richard White sees the pattern. “In myth, nothing ever changes,” he said. “In history, things do change.”
But right now, the myth is being used as a weapon.
