The official White House and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) X accounts appeared to acknowledge critics on Monday by posting a meme video of undocumented immigrants being deported to the '90s song Closing Time. The song is widely recognized as a closing-time anthem in bars.

The video, captioned "It's closing time. We are making America safe again," was shared by the White House, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks, and CBP. It shows undocumented immigrants being led onto a plane in handcuffs, with the song’s lyrics playing, including the line: "I know who I want to take me home."

This video is part of a broader effort to enforce strict immigration policies and accelerate deportations, particularly targeting undocumented individuals accused of gang affiliations from Venezuela and El Salvador.

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had arrested nearly 33,000 undocumented immigrants. While some officials tout this as a success, Banks also noted that illegal border crossings had decreased by 94%.

While conservative voices frame the arrests as a victory, immigration experts argue that using humor to depict deportations is dehumanizing and trivializes aggressive enforcement tactics.

"The sense of humor signals that the person consuming this message is in the in-group; they're in on the joke," said Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, deputy director of the international program at the Migration Policy Institute, in an interview with The Washington Post.

"It amplifies the sense of accomplishment that is not readily apparent in the data. … In so doing, they've made a real choice to use dehumanizing and what I would say is a cruel juxtaposition of humor and suffering that is read by the other side."

The video comes amid legal battles between the administration and a federal judge over the use of wartime powers to accelerate mass deportations. Despite judicial pushback, officials remain committed to the strategy.

"The White House and our entire government are leaning into this message, and we are unafraid to double down and take responsibility for the serious decisions being made," said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. "The president was elected with a mandate to launch the largest mass deportation campaign in American history. And that's exactly what he is doing."