With ICE carrying out arrests and deportations across the country, the agency has become something of a boogeyman in the U.S. While most people want nothing to do with it, a small group of supporters still exists. Among them is a New York man named Dion Cini, who took his admiration to an extreme. He not only dressed up like an ICE agent but posed in front of a Home Depot while in costume. To top it off, he proudly posted the photos on Facebook, captioning them with: “It’s my 14th shift and all the illegal aliens are gone! It worked!”
The New York man wore a dark jacket with the letters “ICE” emblazoned across the back and a stitched American flag on the right sleeve. To complete the look, Cini topped it off with a bright red “Make America Great Again” hat, fully leaning into the impersonation.
Safe to say, people weren’t amused by the man’s stunt. The Trump administration’s harsh treatment of immigrants and minorities has drawn widespread criticism, and Cini’s decision to dress up as an ICE agent only highlighted his fervent support for the president. His actions quickly sparked backlash, with many condemning the move as tone-deaf and inflammatory.
One particularly upset commenter on Facebook slammed Cini as “pathetic” for dressing up as an ICE agent. “If the roles were reversed and you came here seeking a better life, trying to escape a terrible country but had no legal way to do it, would you just stay and suffer? Or would you try to come here and find work? How would you feel if some jackass put on an ICE jacket just to harass people?” the user wrote. Cini, however, didn’t take the criticism seriously. He brushed it off by saying he was simply wearing his favorite jacket.
Others were quick to point out that impersonating a federal officer is a serious crime in the U.S. In fact, it’s a federal offense that can lead to up to three years in prison and hefty fines. “Who’s going to arrest him?” one Redditor quipped after seeing the photo.
Cini didn’t seem fazed by the backlash, responding to critics on Facebook with a lighthearted tone. When one user called out the seriousness of impersonating an officer, the New York man simply replied, “Report me please LOL!” Perhaps taking the challenge seriously, another commenter dropped a link to the NYPD tip submission site right under his post.
