A viral image of the president flanked by tall, platinum-blonde figures in red uniforms swept X this week, with users insisting he’d met “Nordic aliens.”

The White House video featuring a flying saucer and border fence quickly sparked outrage online.

The White House launched aliens.gov, a space-themed site with live illegal immigrant arrest data, ICE heat maps and a tip line to report aliens.

The White House turned a legal term into a science-fiction spectacle. The real story is not the theatrics. It is how language moves an audience from watching to acting.

On Thursday, the White House posted several cryptic videos on social media that teased an upcoming announcement connected to an “aliens.gov” web address. The videos, featuring imagery such as crop circles and UFOs, initially seemed to be indicating some announcement or revelation concerning extraterrestrial life.

The White House is mocking the idea of the U.S. retaining secrets involving alien encounters by launching a space-themed website that touts the arrests of immigrants unauthorized to live in the U.S. The website,

The site compares undocumented immigrants to extraterrestrials, refers to people as "it," and says "they do not belong here."

The website, which compares human beings to extraterrestrials, touts arrest numbers from the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown. But some of its details are really out there.

The White House launched a website teasing new information on extraterrestrials this week, but it actually delivers immigrant arrest data.

The website says Trump was the first U.S. president to "call out the real danger aliens pose to every American family."

M. Gessen is an Opinion columnist for The Times. They are the winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for opinion writing. They are the author of 11 books, including “The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia,” which won the National Book Award in 2017.

U.S. ⁠President Donald ​Trump ‌on ‌Wednesday ⁠signed the ⁠memorandum of understanding ​aimed ​at ⁠ending the ⁠war ⁠with Iran, ​a White ​House ⁠official ⁠told Reuters. (Reporting by ⁠Steve Holland; Writing by Ryan ⁠Patrick Jones;