An intelligence bulletin prepared by Colorado authorities set off alarms within United States police agencies by warning that publications from the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to recruit agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) could be interpreted by extremist groups as a call for white supremacist violence.

The information was revealed by the American media The Intercept, which obtained internal documents prepared by the Colorado Information Analysis Center, an office dedicated to the exchange of intelligence between local, state and federal authorities.

According to the report, authorities noted that several messages spread on social media by DHS included references, phrases and symbols frequently used in neo-Nazi environments and white nationalist movements, which could “generate a potentially greater threat environment.”

The report warns of risks of radicalization

The bulletin, distributed to law enforcement agencies across the United States, claims that “white supremacist violent extremists” may attempt to infiltrate ICE motivated by the tone and content of recruitment campaigns.

Analysts also warned about the possibility that these publications could trigger acts of violence against immigrants or even attacks directed at security forces by anti-fascist groups that interpret the messages as extremist propaganda.

Among the examples mentioned is a publication made in January by the DHS on the social network

According to the memo cited by the aforementioned media, the expression coincides with the lyrics of a song used by white nationalist groups and even mentioned in manifestos linked to racist attacks in the United States.

The report also mentions the repeated use of the term “remigration”, historically associated with discourses of forced expulsion of ethnic minorities, in addition to memes and visual references that have circulated in extremist online communities.

Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former ICE official who worked under the administrations of Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, said that the content described in the bulletin is “quite incriminating.”

“I appreciate that you are laying out so clearly the dangers of using this white nationalist imagery,” he told The Intercept.

Supremacists celebrated DHS publications

The newsletter also documents how accounts and forums linked to neo-Nazism began sharing DHS posts, encouraging sympathizers to join ICE or take advantage of positions within the agency.

According to the report, some users on extremist channels discussed scenarios about infiltrating migrant bodies and using them as power structures in possible racial conflicts.

The analysts clarified in the document that they did not seek to “imply an ideological alignment” between the DHS and supremacist organizations, although they stressed that the language used facilitated the appropriation of the content by these groups.

Spencer Reynolds, a former DHS adviser on domestic terrorism issues and currently a member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, criticized part of the analysis for equating possible violent reactions between white supremacists and anti-fascist activists.

“White supremacy, not those who oppose it, has historically fueled mass violence and oppression in the United States,” Reynolds said.

DHS rejects accusations and accuses “conspiracy theories”

After the report was released, DHS responded harshly to the allegations and publicly defended its recruitment campaigns.

“It is repugnant that the state of Colorado is actively using official law enforcement bulletins to promote dangerous conspiracy theories against ICE,” the agency said in a position cited after the publication of the case.

The agency said that equating its recruiting efforts with extremist rhetoric “dangerously undermines the mission and sacrifices of federal officers.”

Additionally, DHS stated that immigration agents are currently facing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults and a more than 8,000% increase in death threats, attributing part of this situation to smear campaigns against federal personnel.

The controversy occurs amid the hardening of immigration discourse promoted by Republican sectors and the growing debate in the United States about the limits of political language used by government agencies on immigration and national security issues.