‘We will hunt you down’: White House lawn posters spotlight arrested migrants – National
Just two days ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, an aggressive display appeared on the White House lawn.
In clear view of passersby, members of Trump’s team erected “roughly 100” posters featuring mugshots of migrants, along with their alleged crimes, on a grassy strip of the north ground of the White House — which is also where TV crews set up to broadcast.
The posters, first reported by Axios on Monday, feature the word “ARRESTED” over top of a photo of an immigrant, and the crime they’re accused of committing. The posters on the lawn don’t feature names, but, rather, each one says “illegal alien” underneath the photos.
The hope is that the posters are visible behind the journalists as they broadcast from that spot, a White House official told Axios.
Posters depicting detained illegal immigrants are visible as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrives for a television interview outside the West Wing of the White House on April 28, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
On Monday morning, the official White House X account shared a photo of the posters, alongside a warning.
“We will hunt you down. You will face justice. You will be deported — and you will never set foot on American soil again,” the post said. “Oh, and your mugshot may just end up on a yard sign at the White House.”
The posters are visually shocking, and they claim to show illegal immigrant arrests for crimes like “first-degree murder,” “sexual abuse of a child,” “kidnapping and rape,” “murder,” “rape of a child” and “distribution of fentanyl.”
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also shared video of the dozens of signs to X, captioned with a chipper “Good Morning from the White House!” before announcing that the president would sign a number of executive orders to empower law enforcement to pursue criminals and to publish a list of U.S. jurisdictions “that obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
One of Monday’s executive orders directs state and federal officials to publish lists of “sanctuary city” jurisdictions, or places where local authorities often don’t co-operate in enforcing federal immigration regulations.
A second order signed by Trump calls for increasing access to excess military for state and local law enforcement. It also calls for bolstering legal support for officers accused of wrongdoing while carrying out their official duties.
In the order, Trump directs the office of Attorney General Pam Bondi “to create a mechanism to provide legal resources and indemnification to law enforcement officers who unjustly incur expenses and liabilities for actions taken during the performance of their official duties to enforce the law.”
He also signed an order that requires English-language proficiency for commercial motor drivers, such as truckers. That requirement already exists, but Trump said it “has not been enforced in years,” making roads less safe.
Trump launched an aggressive enforcement campaign after taking office, surging troops to the southern border and pledging to deport millions of immigrants in the United States illegally.
The Republican president, who made immigration a major campaign issue in 2024, said the actions were needed after years of high illegal immigration under his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.
White House officials at a press briefing touted a steep decline in illegal crossings at the border during Trump’s first three months in office — even as concerns have emerged over the due process rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens swept up in the dragnet.
The U.S. Border Patrol arrested 7,200 migrants illegally crossing the border in March, the lowest monthly total since 2000 and down from a peak of 250,000 in December 2023.
“We have the most secure border in the history of this nation and the numbers prove it,” Trump border czar Tom Homan said at the briefing.
Democrats and civil rights advocates have criticized Trump’s heightened enforcement tactics, including the cases of several children who are U.S. citizens who were recently deported with their parents. One of the children has a rare form of cancer, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Homan blamed the parents for putting their children at risk of deportation by remaining in the United States.
“If you choose to have a U.S.-citizen child, knowing you’re in this country illegally, you put yourself in that position,” he said.
Under the U.S. Constitution, anyone born in the country is automatically granted citizenship, a right that Trump has tried to ban under an executive order he issued when he took office in January. The Supreme Court is due to hear arguments in the case next month.
— With files from Reuters and The Associated Press
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