Backlash

If a dystopic voice asking you “to fulfill your mission” of rounding up undocumented immigrants has snuck its way onto your streaming airwaves, you’re far from the only one.

In the last two months, online users have reported seeing and hearing an increased amount of recruitment advertising from the Department of Homeland Security on streaming services such as Pandora, Spotify, and Max — and even during September’s MTV VMAs.

The new advertising push, which has faced online backlash, has followed the Trump administration’s investment of $30 billion to hire at least 10,000 more deportation officers by the end of the year, according to The Associated Press. “You took an oath to protect and serve, to keep your family, your city, safe,” the narrator says in some advertisements targeting local police officers. “But in sanctuary cities, you’re ordered to stand down while dangerous illegals walk free.”

In mid-October, specifically, music listeners on Spotify’s ad-supported free plan reported hearing similar advertising on the platform, with some choosing to end their membership due to the ads. When reached for comment, a rep for Spotify told Rolling Stone that the DHS commercials were part of a “broad campaign” from the government agency and that it did not violate any advertising policies on the platform.

But the recruitment ads have been running on numerous streaming platforms, with fans flagging concerns with the ads on Hulu, Max, YouTube, and Pandora, as early as April.

According to new data from Equis acquired by Rolling Stone, DHS spent a combined $2.8 million on English and Spanish-language ads on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram since March 1, and another half a million on ICE recruitment ads on the platform since August.

On Google and YouTube, DHS spent nearly $3 million on specifically Spanish-language advertising aimed at promoting self-deportation. While Equis is unable to track data for ad spends on Spotify, Pandora, and other platforms, an industry source told Rolling Stone that Spotify had received a mere $74,000 from DHS to run their advertisements. That figure represents less than three percent of what the government spent on Google and Meta.

The new data shared on Nov. 11 follows advertisement tracking information from Equis and Priorities USA that confirmed that the Trump administration had spent upwards of $10 million on ad spending for DHS and ICE.

“We’re seeing that some of these campaigns have actively started during October, clearly after the shutdown started, which is key to this story,” Natalia Campos Vargas, the deputy research director for messaging at Equis, told Rolling Stone last week. “During the government shutdown, where employees are being furloughed, these government entities are still spending millions of dollars on advertising on TV and digital platforms.”

According to the memo, the government even increased ad spending during the shutdown. Specifically, DHS increased spending on YouTube ads, going up from $292,000 alone in September to $332,000 in just the first three weeks of October.

In a statement to Rolling Stone on Nov. 2, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed that the funding came from this bill, and that “hiring law enforcement officers is mission critical in order to fix the crisis the Biden administration manufactured by letting millions of criminal illegal aliens come into the country… Nothing will slow us down from recruiting more officers.”

In a public Pandora community thread started in May 2025, a user who said they have been a Pandora user for more than 15 years shared that they were canceling their subscription due to an “overwhelming number” of DHS ads. The thread has received repeated comments from more users sharing their frustration with receiving similar advertisements.

“This is not a random glitch. It is the result of ad targeting that equates music preference with immigration status,” read the user’s note. “Your platform appears to be allowing (or enabling) ads that racially and culturally profile users based on the language of the music they enjoy.”

In August, DHS confirmed to The Independent that it would be running advertisements on YouTube, Max, Amazon Prime Video, X, LinkedIn, and other internet platforms. Several Reddit threads discussed folks opting for VPNs to stream without receiving the ads, while others opted to cancel their subscriptions completely. “It isn’t just the fact that they’re advertising, it is how AWFUL the ads actually are,” wrote one user. “Forget the hateful bullshit, just the sheer stupidity of running that ad in Denver is fucking WILD,” added another.

Similarly, Spanish-language channels such as Univision and Telemundo have also run ads featuring Kristi Noem urging “illegal aliens” not to come into the country. “Join the mission to protect America with bonuses up to $50,000 and generous benefits. Apply now join.ice.gov and fulfill your mission,” says one ad.

When reached for comment, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Rolling Stone that there was “nothing offensive or partisan” with removing what it called criminals from the United States. “The ICE recruitment campaign is a resounding success with more than 150,000 applications rolling in from patriotic Americans answering the call to defend the Homeland by helping arrest and remove the worst of the worst from our country,” McLaughlin said.

Earlier this month, the AP reported that ad-spends by DHS had topped $6.5 million, and that spots had been run in several major cities, including Seattle, Chicago, Washington, D.C, and Miami, aimed at recruiting local officers frustrated with their cities’ immigration enforcement policies.

HBO, Pandora, and Hulu did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment. YouTube had no comment.

This story was updated on Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. ET to include new data on the ad spending made by DHS and ICE on Spotify, Meta, and Google.