Former ICE spokesman: Agency encouraged Trump propaganda more than facts

Richard Beam said he always knew working at ICE would be a contentious and, at times, controversial position. But he believed in the mission, and in his job to inform the public about the agency – by telling the truth, he said.

He remembered that all changed one day in 2025.

Beam was working in a cubicle at ICE’s Santa Ana field office when he hopped on a routine weekly call with colleagues and supervisors, he said. The group would go over best practices in their public affairs work, and Beam and his coworkers would be given updates, directives and guidance from immigration and Department of Homeland Security leadership in Washington, D.C, he recalled.

But this call was different, he said.

For the first time in his 20-year career as a federal spokesperson, he was told to respond to inquiries not with the facts of a case, but with spin, Beam said. Criticize the Biden administration. Praise Trump. Omit information that doesn’t fit the political narrative. Whether or not he answered any questions about a case was an afterthought, he said.

“We were providing responses that spoke to the criminal history, but it didn’t always distinguish the difference between being charged and being convicted of,” he said. “And at some point we would also see language in the responses that [was] political, specifically saying ‘thanks to the Trump administration, we’re doing X. Because of the Biden administration, we have this consequence.’ And that’s not what ...