White House Posts Video of Immigrants in Shackles, Calls Deportation Footage ‘ASMR’

The White House on Tuesday afternoon posted a video online showing immigrants in shackles being prepared to board a deportation flight from Seattle.

The video includes footage of a set of handcuffs and chains jingling as they are pulled from a basket containing other shackles and then laid out on the airport tarmac next to four other sets of restraints.

The X post by the White House is titled, “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight.”

ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight 🔊 pic.twitter.com/O6L1iYt9b4

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 18, 2025

ASMR is a nonclinical term that stands for “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.” It refers to a pleasant, tingling feeling some people experience when watching videos featuring unusual sounds, like whispering or fingernails tapping on a surface.

One shot in the 41-second video shows an immigrant with his hands cuffed in front of him and ankles bound by a chain as he walks past an officer.

Other shots include a close-up of a man having his handcuffs linked together, a man’s feet in chains as he walks up a stairway to a plane, and a man about to board the aircraft. None of the men in the video have their faces shown.

But the clip and the White House’s description of it capture the enthusiasm in the Trump administration and among the president’s supporters for his mass deportations.

{snip}