Deportations on camera: state visualities and transnational migration control between the US and El Salvador

Guest post by Juan Antonio Del Monte Madrigal. Juan Antonio is a Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana, Mexico. He holds a PhD in Social Science with a specialisation in Sociology from El Colegio de México and is a member of the Mexican Government's National System of Researchers (SNII), Level 1. His research interests revolve around precariousness and cross-border (im)mobilities, with an emphasis on ethnographic, audiovisual, and collaborative methodologies. 

Migration enforcement has increasingly unfolded on camera in recent years. Border control circulates as viral clips on TikTok and Instagram, various stages of deportations are displayed by bystanders, and ICE raids and other governmental operations are staged for the public eye in ways that render enforcement spectacular. This audiovisual spectacularisation is more complex than merely the documentation of migration control; it actively participates in shaping the way we understand migration. Within a broader security-oriented logic, social, discursive and visual mediums frame migrants as threats to the stability of host societies.  

Visual media contributes to the manufacturing of sociopolitical realities. Therefore, images of border control must be analysed not as mere representations but as operative elements in migration policy reconfiguration. In the US government’s deportations to third countries such as El Salvador, audiovisual staging and circulation emerge as central techniques for legitimising enforcement practices beyond national borders. This raises a broader question: has the visual become a central component in the consolidation of an emergent multilateral deportation regime?  

In a recently published article, “Air deportations, audiovisual securitization, and the sensory construction of the volatile borderscape”, I examine how the circulation of images of Venezuelan migrants deported from the US to El Salvador represents an effort to expand the scope of border control beyond territorial space. The idea of migration as a threat is formed through a network of representations that gradually shapes collective perception, placing images at the centre of the construction and interpretation of migratory reality or, as Reder states, as a way of ignoring that reality. From this perspective, seeing migration as a territorial threat implies recognising that certain visual productions — such as deportation videos shared on social media — operate as devices that organise the visible and invisible features of migration. Following Mirzoeff, visualities can be understood as exercises of power aimed at normalising a reality by assembling information, ideas, and images, making the phenomenon of migration legible and comprehensible.  

ASMR: branding punitive policies as satisfaction 

In February 2025, at the beginning of Trump's second term in office in the US, the White House posted a short video on its social media accounts showing several people being chained by their hands and feet by federal agents before boarding a plane. The criminalising nature of the material is explicit from its title: “ASMR: deportation flight for illegal immigrants.” The use of the term “illegal” anticipates a discursive framework that criminalises migration and visually inscribes it in a symbolic repertoire typical of criminal punishment, where chains operate as a central sign of punishment for crime, but without the other elements of due process. The video also serves as audiovisual support for one of the president's main campaign promises: the implementation of the largest deportation program in the country's history. 

One of the most striking features of the video is the reference to ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response). ASMR is a digital trend aimed at generating feelings of pleasure and relaxation through high-definition audiovisual stimuli – the US government video therefore suggests that the act of chaining and expelling migrants can be experienced as pleasurable. It is not simply about highlighting the convergence between immigration policy and the punitive apparatus, but about presenting this convergence as a source of satisfaction. 

This combination of irony, provocative statements, and appropriation of viral trends has been a recurring theme in the US administration's visual strategy on immigration. Examples include the AI-generated, Studio Ghibli-style image of a Dominican woman handcuffed by a federal agent, the use of Jet2Holidays promotional audio superimposed on images of deportation flights, and, more recently, the modification of a previously released photograph of an arrested woman by adding tears and a crying expression to her face. Beyond the implicit racism, unauthorised use of audiovisual resources, and glaring lack of informed consent given by those pictured, these publications operate strategically within an attention economy, anticipating controversy and capitalising on the visibility they generate. “The memes will continue”, was the response given by a White House spokesperson when questioned about the post of a digitally altered image. In this context, the maxim that all publicity is beneficial is intensified in a digital environment geared toward the constant production of clicks and reactions. 

Deportation as a spectacle of cruelty 

We also find visualisation strategies that criminalise migrants coming from the government of El Salvador. In March 2025, President Nayib Bukele posted a video on social media showing an extensive and sophisticated security operation deployed to receive a flight of deported Venezuelans. Bukele claimed that these people belonged to the criminal organisation Tren de Aragua, without presenting any public evidence to support the accusation. For roughly three minutes, the video covers the different stages of the process: from reception and transfer under heavy guard to imprisonment in the Terrorist Confinement Center, where detainees are treated in a clearly dehumanising manner. Throughout the sequence, an unequivocal message is conveyed: this is the treatment that, according to official discourse, criminals and terrorists deserve.  

In the video description, Bukele pointed out that the US was paying El Salvador to keep these people detained, which contributed to the sustainability of the prison system. He also presented this action as part of a joint effort between allies against organised crime, reinforcing the idea that migration constitutes a threat to the national security of both countries. In February 2025, this logic was formalised through an agreement for El Salvador to take in migrants from third countries in exchange for $6 million. This agreement was for one year with the possibility of extension, but so far its continuation has not been confirmed – largely due to the opacity surrounding the public information about the terms of the agreement and the situation of the detainees. The discourse presents them as dangerous and justifies a punitive approach, despite extensive evidence showing that migrants are no more likely than citizens to commit violent crime – highlighting a gap between security rhetoric and social reality. 

These audiovisual materials serve several functions: they normalise the punishment of deported people as if they were criminals, they aestheticise deportation as a spectacle of cruelty, they mobilise emotions to secure public consent, and they transform migrant suffering into an affective resource that sustains both border regimes and logics of disposability. Together, they configure a transnational assemblage of deportations based on economic agreements and dehumanising practices. This phenomenon is especially worrying considering the US' new national security strategy, an updated version of the Monroe Doctrine, aimed at controlling Latin America and curbing migration flows. The seize of Nicolás Maduro and the reconfiguration of the relationship with Venezuela demonstrate the intention to restore US preeminence in the hemisphere. In this context, the visual criminalisation of migration not only legitimises repressive policies but also reinforces an expansionist and imperial logic. 

Taken together, these elements suggest that visuality has become an incisive wedge that underpins contemporary deportation regimes. Far from an incidental use of images representing enforcement, audiovisual deployment actively organizes its legitimacy, affective force, and transnational engagement. The US-El Salvador articulation presented here points to a broader reconfiguration in which deportation is governed through spectacle, emotional management, and mediated deterrence, extending border control beyond territorial limits. The case outlined above invites us to consider that the visual now functions as a core component in consolidating an emergent multilateral deportation regime – one that relies not only on legal agreements and security apparatuses, but on the sensory production of expulsion. The camera has become a policy enforcement tool. 

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