On Monday, the US Department of Homeland Security published a series of messages on social media platform X advertising the arrest of five men, each one represented on a Pokémon TCG style card. The cards use the formatting and typesetting of the Pokémon trading card game to display each man's name, police photograph, and the crime they have apparently been convicted of by a US court, along with the slogan 'Gotta Catch 'Em All'.
The cards are accompanied by a video that intercuts sensational footage of door breaches and arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, with elements from the title sequence from the original 1999 Pokémon TV series. It's accompanied by the theme tune and its catchy refrain 'Gotta Catch 'Em All'.
The five men are alleged to have committed a range of crimes, from vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, to human trafficking, and child sexual abuse. Each card lists a state they are said to have been convicted in.
Posts on the ICE website and Facebook page announcing the arrests of Moises Lopez-Zepeda and Hossein Sharifi reveal they occurred in September: the ICE arrests occurred after whatever original law enforcement action resulted in the men's original arrest and convictions.
Assuming the DHS' allegations about these men are correct, presenting them as Pokémon cards is deeply unserious about very serious crimes, and disrespectful to the people they harmed. A video smash-cut of breach actions makes light of a dangerous paramilitary procedure that has the potential for fatal casualties, including civilians and service people.
While we would expect this from children who don't know better, or internet memesters who don't care, we must ask what the DHS hopes to achieve with this - why is it trivializing its own supposed 'success stories' to shout a childish story about 'good guys catching bad guys'?
The top-left of the card, where a regular Pokémon card would list the evolutionary stage of a Pokémon, simply says 'Illegal'. The DHS has a good reason to reinforce the public image of an undocumented immigrant as a violent criminal, rather than an agricultural worker - there is less sympathy, and less scrutiny, for actions that affect criminals.
DHS' decision to co-opt Pokémon cards in this way comes at a time when the TCG's popularity is at an all time high, especially among 25-40 year olds who were in grade school when they first came out in the mid 1990s. If you'd like to engage with them as the joyful plaything, artistic collectible, and creative escape they truly are, well, us too - so we'll recommend some of our articles about that.
If you last looked at Pokémon cards in third grade, you might be amazed how many Pokémon cards there are now, and just how expensive the most expensive Pokémon cards have become.