White House Aliens.gov Site Shows ICE Arrests of US Citizens

The Story

The White House launched a website called Aliens.gov on Thursday, after teasing the announcement on X with a video captioned “They walk among us.” The site mocks immigrants by comparing them to extraterrestrials and claims Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested almost half a million people in nearly 12,000 U.S. cities and towns. According to WIRED’s analysis, the site’s arrest counter is fake, starting with a manually typed number of 3,129,580 and increasing based on each visitor’s browser timer. The site lists locations where arrests occurred, including 715 where at least one arrestee was born in the United States and 83 where every person arrested was American. Visitors are meant to hear the X-Files theme song, but the autoplay audio is blocked by most browsers. The White House stated the site pulls data from DHS and said it initially included a handful of non-immigration HSI arrests that have been updated.

Key Facts

• The Aliens.gov website was unveiled by the White House on Thursday after a teaser on X.
• The site compares immigrants to extraterrestrials and claims ICE arrested nearly 500,000 people.
• In 715 of the listed locations, at least one person arrested was born in the United States; in 83 locations, every arrestee was an American.
• The site’s arrest counter is fake, using a manually typed starting number and a browser timer.
• The X-Files theme song is intended to play on the site but is blocked by default browser settings.
• The music file was created with late-2000s CD-ripping software; Disney Music Group owns the rights.
• The White House said data came from DHS and included “a handful of non-immigration HSI arrests” that have been updated.
• WIRED found that after the update, there were 270,214 fewer arrests listed.
• Some listed locations are not cities or towns, such as an Ohio address corresponding to a state prison.

Conflicting Reports

No conflicting reports identified in the source article.

Still Unclear

It is unclear whether the White House obtained permission from Disney Music Group to use the X-Files theme song. It is also unclear how many U.S. citizens were arrested in total, as the site’s data was later updated.

Misconceptions

No widespread misconceptions addressed in the source article.

Key Figures

• White House
• ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
• HSI (Homeland Security Investigations)
• DHS (Department of Homeland Security)
• WIRED (reporting outlet)
• 404 Media (media outlet)
• TRAC (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse)
• Deportation Data Project (watchdog organization)
• ProPublica (journalism organization)
• Disney Music Group (rights holder)
• FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

Sources: Wired