The White House has been slammed after sharing an ICE deportation video with the viral Jet2 Holidays meme.
On Tuesday (July 29), the official White House account under President Donald Trump shared a video of handcuffed undocumented migrants being escorted by censored ICE agents onto a GlobalX deportation flight.
Over the footage plays the now-famous Jet2 Holidays meme, a mashup of Jess Glynne’s 2015 hit 'Hold My Hand' and a chipper voiceover by actress Zoe Lister.
The shocking post was captioned: “When ICE books you a one-way Jet2 holiday to deportation. Nothing beats it!”
Social media users were quick to express their outrage, with one user reacting: "This is maybe the most disgusting tweet yet from this administration?? Absolutely gross and an embarassment."
Another blasted: "Trying to make joke of human suffering, genuinely this made me sick. My God this is aggravating," and a third shared: "This is vile. These are people."
A fourth said: "Fascism with Gen Z humor hoping to appeal to the younger generations leaves a sour taste in my mouth," while a fifth added: "Funny how there’s a level of professionalism expected in every single job EVER or there will be consequences and reports and other s**t. But the f**king White House can post s**t like this? Dystopian, pathetic, disgusting."
Glynne also took to her Instagram page to denounce the video, writing: “This post honestly makes me sick. My music is about love, unity, and spreading positivity - never about division or hate.”
Lister also chimed in, questioning: “What can be done about the White House using Jet2’s sound and my voiceover to promote their nasty agenda?”
Though the audio, originally used in Jet2 commercials and picked up in a 2025 TikTok trend, has often been paired with humorous or ironic fails, critics say the White House’s use of it to depict deportations crosses a line.
"It actually IS the official White House page, using a British airline advert trend to boast about deporting immigrants from their country, even including a Trump cameo at the end... Lost for words,” journalist Will Lancaster posted.
The clip also includes immigration officers dragging detainees out of vans, a screenshot of the CBP Home app (used to allow voluntary deportation), and ends with President Donald Trump giving a smirking thumbs-up to the camera.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended the post in a statement to The Independent: “There is nothing more unifying and positive than deporting criminal illegal aliens and making American communities safer.”
ICE is now targeting 3,000 immigrant arrests per day under a new enforcement strategy backed by the 79-year-old president's recent $170 billion immigration funding bill, including $45 billion allocated for detention and a five-year, $76.5 billion boost to ICE’s budget.
Despite the public outcry about the shocking video, the administration appears unfazed as Jackson declared: “The memes will continue until every criminal illegal alien is removed!"