The Pokémon Company International is not pleased that President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using its intellectual property to promote the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) raids.
“We are aware of a recent video posted by the Department of Homeland Security that includes imagery and language associated with our brand,” said a statement from the Pokémon Company International provided to Mashable. “Our company was not involved in the creation or distribution of this content, and permission was not granted for the use of our intellectual property.”
On Tuesday, the DHS posted a 1-minute video across their social media accounts on platforms like X and Facebook set to the theme song for the Pokémon TV show.
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The DHS video includes clips from various ICE raids, where individuals alleged to be undocumented immigrants are being searched and arrested by ICE officers. Interspersed between the footage are clips of Pokémon’s protagonist, Ash Ketchum. The video is another example of the Trump Administration’s unapologetic, meme-centric, and often dehumanizing approach to social media.
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After fans of the franchise spoke out against the dehumanizing video, the Pokémon Company initially stayed silent. The company’s former legal boss even told IGN that the company would probably avoid commenting and let the situation blow over. He also noted that several of the company’s executives are green card holders, and likely don’t want to antagonize the Trump administration.
After the @DHSgov X account posted the video, many social media users quickly tagged the official X accounts for Pokémon and Nintendo and urged the companies to take action. Nintendo, for example, is known to be stringent when it comes to protecting its IP, as many video game content creators on platforms like YouTube have experienced firsthand.
As the Daily Beast points out, one clip used in the DHS video is from a raid overseen personally by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. This particular raid reportedly resulted in two U.S. citizens being wrongly detained.
It’s unclear if the Pokémon Company International or Nintendo intend to take further action against the unauthorized use of their intellectual property. As of Wednesday, Sept. 24, the video is still available on official DHS accounts on social media.
Mashable contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment, and we’ll update this story if we receive a response.
