Homeland Security plays Pokémon theme while showing arrests as trading cards

The US Department of Homeland Security has used the iconic Pokémon theme song in a recent ICE promotion video, which features the caption "Gotta Catch 'Em All".

The ICE promotion video was posted to the official Homeland Security X account on September 23 and features a montage of ICE agents arresting illegal immigrants, spliced with footage of Nintendo's Pokémon anime. The video also features Pokémon cards, but instead of Pokémon characters on the cards, it features captured illegal immigrants.

The cards in the video state the arrested immigrants' crime, a short history about them, their weakness, when they were arrested, and their sentence. Each of the cards states that the immigrants' weakness is ICE.

The post by Homeland Security has been viewed more than 40 million times at the time of reporting, and many commenters below the post have called upon Nintendo to sue Homeland Security for copyright infringement. At the moment, Nintendo has yet to respond to the video, and it remains unclear if the Japanese company will attempt to protect its IP from being associated with illegal immigration.

Given Nintendo's history of protecting its IP from being associated with specific things it deems a brand risk, it seems likely that once Nintendo becomes aware of this video, it will request that it be taken down. However, time will tell.