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White House launches Arcade
The White House launched an online arcade on Thursday, September 3, featuring five low-resolution games tied to President Donald Trump’s policy agenda, including “Build the wall. Deport. Fill a Trump account.”
“The White House of US President Donald Trump has launched a website featuring online video games.”
One game, “Rio Run,” is based on the classic game “Snake” and features a digital character of US Border Czar Tom Homan chasing migrants near the Rio Grande river.
Another game, “Build the Wall,” lets players add blocks to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, with the game saying, “Defend the border from the incoming hordes.”
The White House said the games are a way to communicate the President’s achievements and policies in a format that is easy to understand and engage with, and it posted on X a video resembling the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) logo.
Human rights organisations criticized the move, with Frontera Federation co-director Amerika Garcia Grewal saying the administration had “literally turned it into a video game.”
Backlash from border groups
Amerika Garcia Grewal, co-director of the Frontera Federation in Eagle Pass, Texas, told AFP that the games showed a lack of sensitivity, saying, “It presents the issue as if it were a game, when in reality, it is not.”
Adriana Jasso, programme coordinator at border-focused organisation AMIGOS San Diego Community, said the games showed “a serious lack of sensitivity,” adding that migrants were being dehumanised and turned into a joke even as people were dying in detention centres.
In a statement released to AFP, the White House defended the initiative as underscoring a contrast between a culture of “fun” and winning and “the Democrats’ dark socialist vision for America.”
The backlash also drew political criticism, including Texas Democratic state Representative Jessica González writing on X that “Trump’s White House literally built video games on a government website before doing anything to solve America’s affordability crisis.”
Senator Matt Lesser also attacked the launch on X, writing, “Heating oil is near an all-time high but hey you can play Border Czar Tom Homan in a video game.”
Policy push and DHS numbers
The games arrived as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a “record” near 51,000 irregular immigrants arrested in August, with the operation facilitated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“DHS announced a “record” near 51,000 irregular immigrants arrested in August”
The White House-linked arcade also references the administration’s immigration enforcement push, with the White House describing the games as part of its broader effort to speed up deportation of people living in the US without valid documents.
Le Monde reported that the White House published the games on Thursday, September 3, and said the online version draws on the classic arcade game genre “Snake,” with players guiding a character representing Tom Homan to expel people who crossed the Rio Grande at the border with Mexico.
Opponents also criticized the administration’s broader messaging, with Le Monde noting that DHS released a video showing the expulsion of impeded Haitian migrants after Washington removed a status that had allowed them to stay legally in the country.
In the same reporting, Le Monde said the montage was deemed degrading and racist by opponents of Donald Trump, while the White House posted “CAN’T STOP WINNING” on X alongside a link to the games.