ICE Breaks the Internet — But the Shock Should Be the Crime

In today’s outrage-driven media landscape, it’s no surprise when a law enforcement photo goes viral. But this week’s explosion over an ICE arrest in San Diego proves that what goes viral isn’t always what matters most.

On Saturday, ICE’s San Diego office posted an image to X of 42-year-old Diego Hernandez — an undocumented migrant from Mexico with multiple DUI convictions and repeat illegal entries. Next to him, a female ICE agent stood facing away from the camera. Her tactical uniform, especially her form-fitting pants, sparked a firestorm of commentary.

The intent, ICE clarified, was to conceal the agent’s identity — not to launch a thirst trap. But the internet had other ideas.

“Am I f---ing crazy, or is this them trying to humiliate a random immigrant and using an ICE agent’s fat delicious ass just to make sure it gains traction?”

“The Cartman shirt, the ICE agent facing the wall for no reason other than to show her ass, this is art. The parallels one could draw from this are endless. Satire is dead.”

“If I renounce my citizenship, does that mean they will send her... to my house? Asking for a friend.”

But here’s the real story: ICE caught a repeat offender who was endangering public safety. The fact that the public got distracted by the agent’s figure says more about our culture than about immigration enforcement.

According to ICE: “He chose to break our laws again and again. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal — because public safety comes first.”

The Facts, Not the Feed

Hernandez is in custody — not because of a viral meme, but because he’s violated federal law repeatedly. Still, mainstream outlets and left-leaning pundits have latched onto the photo, making the conversation about “optics” instead of about crime.

For conservatives, the incident raises more than eyebrows. It highlights how quickly serious law enforcement actions are hijacked by unserious commentary — reducing public safety to punchlines.

Right-Leaning Takeaways

• Focus on facts: A man with a criminal record was arrested. That’s the news.
• Don’t shame ICE for doing its job: Concealing identities is routine and responsible.
• Mocking law enforcement undermines safety: Turning arrests into memes distracts from policy.
• Culture matters: When memes matter more than enforcement, our priorities are backward.

See the Viral Post

The ICE San Diego tweet that sparked it all:

ICE San Diego arrested Diego Hernandez, 42, an illegal alien from Mexico with multiple convictions for DUI and repeated illegal re-entry into the U.S. He chose to break our laws again and again. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal—because public safety comes first. pic.twitter.com/rR4nWCVHmN

— ICE San Diego (@EROSanDiego) August 23, 2025

The Bigger Picture

ICE activity in Southern California has sharply increased. In fact, reports show that daily civil arrests in San Diego and Imperial counties have quadrupled in recent months. Many of these arrests, like Hernandez’s, target individuals with repeated offenses — not innocent migrants.

Yet the narrative, especially on social media, paints ICE agents as villains or, in this case, Instagram influencers. That’s not just dishonest — it’s dangerous.

Let’s Not Lose Sight

A government agency did its job and removed a threat from the streets. If the country is more interested in the size of the officer’s pants than the seriousness of the crime, we have a cultural issue to confront.

The outrage shouldn’t be about the angle of a photo — it should be about the fact that someone with multiple DUIs and illegal re-entries was still walking free.

So yes, ICE “broke the internet.” But what really broke was our attention span.