The White House has launched a website featuring arcade-style video games that promote key elements of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, including deportations and border security.
The games, unveiled on Thursday, use familiar gaming formats while incorporating themes associated with the Trump administration’s “Make America Great Again” campaign.
Games promote deportation and border wall
One of the games, “Rio Run,” is modelled on the classic game Snake. It features US border czar Tom Homan pursuing migrants of different skin colours along the Rio Grande near the US-Mexico border.
Another game, “Build the Wall,” draws on the mechanics of the classic block-stacking game Tetris. Players are instructed to protect the border by constructing a wall.
A third game focuses on Trump Accounts, investment accounts that include a $1,000 government contribution for eligible children born between 2025 and 2028.
The White House promoted the games on X using a video featuring a MAGA logo styled after the branding of Sega, the Japanese video game company.
The accompanying message highlighted three themes: building the wall, deporting migrants and funding Trump Accounts.
White House defends gaming campaign
The White House said the project was designed to present the administration’s policies and achievements in a format it believes would appeal to Americans.
The administration also described the initiative as a way to contrast its approach with what it called the Democrats’ “dark socialist vision” for the country.
The launch comes as the Trump administration intensifies efforts to arrest and deport undocumented migrants after Trump returned to the White House.
Rights groups criticise the games
Immigration and human rights advocates condemned the project, arguing that it trivialises the experiences of migrants and the consequences of US immigration enforcement.
Amerika Garcia Grewal, co-director of the Frontera Federation in Eagle Pass, Texas, criticised the decision to turn deportation-related policies into entertainment.
Adriana Jasso, a programme coordinator with AMIGOS San Diego Community, which works with communities along the border, also questioned the approach.
She said the games reflected what she described as a lack of seriousness by the administration toward the human consequences of its immigration policies.
The criticism comes amid wider concerns over conditions facing migrants held in detention facilities and the administration’s broader deportation programme.
Trump’s immigration policy
Trump made mass deportation a central promise of his presidential campaign, pledging to remove millions of undocumented migrants from the United States.
Since returning to office, his administration has pursued measures intended to accelerate deportations and strengthen immigration enforcement.
The White House has also frequently relied on social media campaigns and unconventional digital content to promote Trump’s policies and challenge his political opponents.
