White House Shares New ICE Video Featuring Sabrina Carpenter Amid Backlash

President Donald Trump’s White House is not backing down after singer Sabrina Carpenter criticized the administration for using her song to promote the administration’s efforts to forcibly deport undocumented immigrants.

“PSA: If you’re a criminal illegal, you WILL be arrested & deported,” the official X account for the White House posted on Friday, December 5, featuring a doctored Saturday Night Live promotional video featuring Carpenter, 26, and SNL star Marcello Hernandez.

In the original, unedited clip, Carpenter opens the promo by evoking her many viral Short n’ Sweet tour moments in which she “arrests” various celebrities in attendance.

“I think I might need to arrest someone for being too hot,” Carpenter says in the original. In the edited clip, the White House changed the word “hot” to “illegal.”

Sabrina Carpenter Slams White House's ‘Evil’ ICE Video Using Her Song

“Well, I turn myself in,” Hernandez, 28, who is of Cuban and Dominican descent, responds. (Hernandez’s own standup references his mother, who immigrated to the United States when she was 12 in order to flee communism.)

‘You’re under arrest,” Carpenter begins to quip, before the video cuts her off and segues into a montage of video clips featuring Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officers detaining various individuals in the United States.

Instead of using Carpenter’s music for the video montage, the White House used Rihanna’s “S&M” and Gucci Mane’s “I Get the Bag,” featuring Migos.

The new post comes in the wake of Carpenter openly criticizing the White House for using her music in another, since deleted ICE promotional video.

“This video is evil and disgusting,” Carpenter wrote via X on Tuesday, December 2. “Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhuman agenda.”

One day earlier, the White House posted a video featuring images of ICE officers detaining individuals alleged to be “dangerous” criminals residing in the United States without proper identification or authorization. Carpenter’s song “Juno” played in the background of the 21-second clip.

“Have you ever tried this one?” the White House captioned the video via X, referencing Carpenter’s viral moments in her life shows in which she strikes various sexual poses. “Bye-bye.”

In response to Carpenter’s post, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson defended the video and its content in a statement to Us Weekly.

“Here’s a Short n’ Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won’t apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal murderers, rapists and pedophiles from our country,” Jackson said in a statement to Us on Tuesday. “Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?”

According to the Cato Institute, 93 percent of individuals detained and booked in ICE detention centers have not been convicted of a violent crime, and nearly two-thirds have no criminal conviction at all.

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Carpenter isn’t the first celebrity to object to having their music be associated with Trump’s administration’s policies.
In October, Kenny Loggins made headlines for criticizing the White House’s use of his hit song “Danger Zone” in a video that depicted Trump flying over No Kings protestors.

“This is an unauthorized use of my performance of ‘Danger Zone.’ Nobody asked me for my permission, which I would have denied, and I request that my recording on this video is removed immediately,” Loggins, 77, said in a statement shared with Variety at the time. “I can’t imagine why anybody would want their music used or associated with something created with the sole purpose of dividing us. Too many people are trying to tear us apart, and we need to find new ways to come together.”

In 2024, Beyoncé also threatened a cease and desist order to the Trump campaign after it used “Freedom” in a video. That song later became former Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign song.