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Morgan Weisling, a skilled painter of Cowboys and Old West Frontier lives, was on vacation with his family this month when he received an astonishing message about his family and one of his artworks.
The US Department of Homeland Security said a friend told him, and that he had posted a work he had drawn to an official social media channel five years ago, without his knowledge.
The painting, which looks like a scene from the Oregon Trail, is a young white couple – she wears a long dress and a cowboy hat.
“Remember the heritage of your hometown,” the Department of Homeland Security captioned a July 14 post on X, Instagram and Facebook.
Exactly whose hometown and whose legacy is it? And what was the intended message from the federal department in California this summer when masked, heavily armed agents arrested thousands of brown-skinned, Spanish-speaking immigrants (mostly uncriminal convictions)?
It was the source of intense online debate when the Trump administration bolstered online trolling with memes and jokes about what critics called racist, childish and official government social media accounts.
good morning. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/pevfrykspv
– White House (@WhiteHouse) July 17, 2025
“Remember the legacy of your hometown” post has won 19 million views on X and thousands of answers. Critics compared the post to Nazi propaganda. Supporters said it was “alright even if you’re white” and it was about celebrating “traditional values.”
In his response, “Do you mean stolen land, indigenous genocide, and heritage built on whitewashed history? While caging today’s immigrants, we cannot make settlers romantic.”
And: “After a few minutes, the ice wagon is pulled up next to them, stuffing them with the agent’s cuffs and them behind, and sending them back to Ireland immediately.”
Another person referring to the “Oregon Trail” video game joked, “All three people died of dysentery.”
Asked about criticism of the Post, a Homeland Security spokesman said in an email to the Times: “If the media burns trails, needs the lessons of the history of brave men and women who forge the rivers, and forged this republic from the sweat on their foreheads, this administration is proud of American history.
Protesters will confront federal agents during an immigration raid at Glasshouse Farms in Camarillo on July 10th.
(Julie Leopo/Age)
On July 11, a federal judge temporarily suspended the sweep of indiscriminate immigrants in Southern California at locations such as Home Depot, car washes and lines of street vendors. US District Judge Mame Eusi Mensa Frimon said he found sufficient evidence that agents illegally use race, ethnicity, language, accent, location, or employment as an excuse for immigration enforcement.
The following week, the Department of Homeland Security (including immigration and customs enforcement along with customs and border security) published a white painting of a surveillance wagon. He also posted a meme with a fake poster for the 1982 film “Et the Extrasterial.”
Ramesh Srinivasan, founder of the University of California Digital Culture Lab, studies the relationship between technology, politics and culture, and said the mean posts and overjoyed deportation jokes were part of the Trump administration’s intentional trolling campaign.
“The saddest part of all this is that it reflects how DHS behaves in real life,” he said.
“Someone can become a troll online, but it may not be that much [of one] In real life, the digital world and the physical world may not be completely lockstepping each other. But in this particular case there is actually a level of honesty that is bothering you. ”
Srinivasan, an Indian-American, said that the paintings on the covered wagons are not offensive in themselves, but the timing of the post-Homeland Security post raises questions about the intended meaning of the government.
The paintings are “used to show inclusion and exclusion worthy of those who are Americans and not,” he said.
Srinivasan said average memes are effective as people are flooded with information and quickly spread to media environments where visual content and short video reels are quickly scrolled in almost context.
“There are hidden algorithms that determine visibility and virality,” Srinivasan said. “Anger is more viral as tech companies produce what they call engagement.”
Here in California, Gavin Newsom filmed the page from Trump’s Troll Playbook. Recent social media posts include names, vows and, of course, memes.
Earlier this month, Newsom responded to X’s post by far-right Libs on his Tiktok account showing a video of someone who appears to be firing a gun at a Camarillo immigration officer. The account asked whether the governor would condemn the shooting. Newsom writes:
In the X post, Newsom’s press is called Stephen Miller, the White House vice-Chief of Staff, the architect of “Fascist Cuck,” a number of the architects of Trump’s hard-hit immigration policies. Newsom defended his name at a press conference, saying the following about the Trump administration: “I don’t think they understand other types of languages.”
Stephen Miller, Deputy Chiefs of Staff of the White House, was in discussion with reporters outside the White House on May 9th. Miller is a architect of many of the Trump administration’s hard-hit immigration policies.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The term is used in the circle on the far right to shame liberals as weak. It also stands for “Cuckold,” the husband of a dishonest wife.
Even for Team Trump, who is skilled at distractions, as supporters say, the growing online effort to own LIB comes at a time of volatility for the president. He was caught up in a controversy over rumors about his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the effects of the so-called one big beautiful bill.
Still, his meme team is working hard to anger and boast about the immigrant attacks.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security posted a cleverly edited video to its social media accounts. The narrator quotes Isaiah 6:8, citing a biblical verse that shows a border agent at work. And I said, “Here I send me.”
The video uses the cover of a song called “God’s Gonna Cut You Cut You Down” by San Francisco rock band Black Liber Motorcycle Club.
A man protesting an immigrant attack walks in front of California State Guard troops that President Trump has made into the federal government to protect a federal building in downtown Los Angeles on June 12th.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
On Instagram, the band wrote: “Please note that the Department of Homeland Security inappropriately uses recordings of “cutting God’s rewards” in the latest propaganda videos. It is clear that we do not respect copyright laws and artists’ rights.
On July 10th, the band asked the government to stop using recordings and to lower the video.
“Ah, and go to yourself,” he added.
On Friday evening, the video was still posted to X along with the song.
Recently, the White House and Homeland Security social media accounts have shared memes that include: A weightlifting skeleton declaring, “My body is a machine that turns ice funds into deportation.” A crocodile wearing an ice cap in connection with Florida’s officially designated Wannial Catraz immigration detention facility.
A meme shared last week depicts a poster outside the White House. “OMG, did the White House really post this?” Caption: “I’m not saying that you can’t post Banger memes anywhere in the Constitution.”
The White House also shared a homeland security wagon post.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded to a question about online criticism called the racist post, and emailed the Times Reporter to “explain that illegal foreigners are racist.”
She also said in a statement:
Weisling, the artist, unconsciously caught up in the controversy, appears to have been surprised not only by his paintings and posts of his name, but also by the Department of Homeland Security, using the false titles of the artwork.
The government labeled the painting: “New Life in a New Land – Morgan Weisling.”
The actual title of the painting is “Prayer for a New Life.” The prints are available on the website as evangelical nonprofits focus on families.
Wiesling, a registered Republican living in Los Angeles County, could not be contacted for comment.
Shortly after the government used his paintings, he wrote on his website: “Note! I didn’t give DHS permission to post to the official web platform in a recent post. They used a painting I did it five years ago and posted it without permission. [sic] And what should I do next? ”
He later shortened the statement on his website, deleted the posts on his Instagram and Facebook accounts, saying he learned about the posts during his holidays, retitling it, thinking that the government could “post randomly post artist pictures without permission.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not answer period questions about copyright issues.
However, a spokesperson said that posting with the wrong title was “an honest mistake.”
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