Department of Homeland Security Uses Pokémon Theme “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” In Xenophobic Social Media Post, Fans Hope Nintendo Sues Them

By Elijah Gonzalez  |  September 23, 2025 | 10:30am
Anime News Pokémon
Department of Homeland Security Uses Pokémon Theme “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” In Xenophobic Social Media Post, Fans Hope Nintendo Sues Them

Last night, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted a propagandistic video on its X account showing ICE officers blowing the doors off people’s homes as it leaned wholeheartedly into the nativist, xenophobic rhetoric it loves to espouse (I’m not going to link to it because trust me, it doesn’t deserve the click). And if that wasn’t gross enough, there was the backing track: the Pokémon TV series’ main theme, “Gotta Catch ‘Em All,” because it wouldn’t be an attempt at conservative “humor” without being painfully on the nose.

In addition to using the song, the propaganda video also plagiarizes the series’ font treatment and includes footage from the anime, including of Ash Ketchum, a 10-year-old boy who is probably not a right-wing nativist, and an animation of a Poké Ball snapping shut.

This isn’t the first time this administration’s social media accounts have used anime to try and push its hateful views: it previously used that godawful Studio Ghibli generative AI filter to depict a crying Dominican woman being arrested by an ICE ghoul, a move so blindingly stupid given the themes of Ghibli’s works that it shoots past irony into pure, dumb-as-rocks territory. Admittedly, as this NPR article points out, the purpose isn’t to make a coherent or well-considered point, but to “trigger the libs.”

What is different this time around, though, is the company being seemingly plagiarized: there are few things Nintendo loves more than lawsuits against those who infringe on its IP. The company has gone after piracy claims so viciously that you might assume privateers have been quite literally making off with its doubloons, when in reality, it’s some guy posting ROMS on a website for little freaks willing to jump through the hoops needed to make these bootlegged games work.

The company previously sued hacker Gary Bowser for over $10 million, resulting in a prison sentence and Nintendo allegedly being able to take 25% of his monthly income for the rest of his life. They are also in an ongoing lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair, shut down a piracy site in July, and just won another legal battle against a modder who was hit with a whopping $2 million fine. The company has even gone after charities on several occasions for simply streaming its games, which certainly isn’t a good look.

The point is, Nintendo loves suing people, and it’s hard to imagine that the DHS got proper permission to use the Pokémon theme and clips of the anime for its gross video (even if they would probably claim they’re protected by the fair use doctrine, which is usually reserved for satire). Underneath the DHS’s social media post are a whole bunch of comments attempting to manifest Nintendo’s legal team.

On the one hand, it’s much easier for Nintendo to throw its army of lawyers against a one-off modder or hacker than against a deeply vindictive US government willing to use every lever at its disposal to go after its perceived “enemies.” On the other, it’s very tempting to hope that the company will actually punch up instead of down for once.

 
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