DHS Appropriates Japanese Artist’s Work in Racist X Post
On December 31, 2025, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used an image of a Hiroshi Nagai painting in an official X post without permission, cropping the work and adding the text “America After 100 Million Deportations” alongside the caption “The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world.” A 2024 Andrew Jones Auction record identified the image as an untitled 2017 painting from Nagai’s Beachcomber series, but DHS did not credit the artist or acknowledge it was artwork. Nagai, 78, told Hyperallergic he was “at a loss” and objected to the political message attached to his work; the post later received a Community Note citing his statement but remained online. DHS told multiple outlets it would “continue using every tool at its disposal,” and the article notes earlier controversies involving DHS’s unauthorized use of copyrighted paintings and music, including works by Thomas Kinkade and Morgan Weistling and songs by Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, and Zach Bryan.
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This story was covered in Restitution Shockwaves and Museums Under Pressure