MAGA ‘Batman’ beating up on immigrants only condones more violence | Opinion

Sickening!

That is the appropriate reaction to an AI-generated video a conservative media personality with 4 million followers on X posted of him cosplaying as Batman whacking some sombrero-clad people in Chicago.

“Unreleased footage of me with ICE in Chicago …” Benny Johnson, a MAGA podcaster with access to press briefings at the White House, wrote at the start of a 23-second video he posted on Monday of him unleashing blows and kicks on six men and one woman who looks Asian, all decked in sombreros and zarapes. Most of the men have mustaches.

There’s no explanation of why this Batman-wannabe, standing next to the Batmobile, decided to violently attack the people outside a Chicago Walmart. Are we to believe that anyone wearing a sombrero and mustache is in this country without authorization? When did striking a defenseless person become proper protocol for an arrest? Should we deport only people who look Mexican? Is it OK now to just beat up on immigrants?

Hmmm, where have we seen President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other Republican leaders employ similar stereotypical memes of Mexicans?

Such imagery does nothing to solve the federal government shutdown or an immigration system that hasn’t been significantly updated in almost four decades.

If only Republicans got as creative with actual solutions for the country’s top issues, like bringing down the cost of groceries or keeping 14 million Americans from losing their health insurance.

If only Republicans realized how infantile their memes and AI-generated imagery appear. Cosplaying violence against immigrants is un-American.

The video featured the comic book captions right out of a Batman show. “Pow!!” “Boff!” “Kapow!” “Z-zwap!” “Whack!” “Thwack!” “Bonk!”

His “victims” fall onto the parking lot of a Walmart store or onto parked cars.

Johnson — who was embedded with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during weekend federal immigration enforcement in Chicago — reported somewhat gleefully that “a bunch of people jumped the fences” when they noticed the ICE vehicles roll up.

“It was fascinating to watch,” he said in a 13-minute video. “There was a lot of FA and a lot of FO happening. It is a beautiful thing that federal law enforcement is enforcing the laws of the land.”

In his video, Johnson noted two people were detained at the Walmart parking lot and ICE agents drove to a residential neighborhood to apprehend a “violent offender and rapist.”

Nothing to gain from inflammatory video

Criminals need to be the focus of Trump’s deportation effort — not gardeners, restaurant staff, car wash employees or construction workers whose only crime is that they crossed the border to build this country’s fortunes.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a Syracuse University research project, reports that 71.5% of immigrants detained as of Sept. 21 have no criminal conviction.

All of a sudden, some of the country’s hardest workers are dehumanized for their appearance and wardrobe. That they don’t deserve due process, or should be locked up in detention facilities whose names like Alligator Alcatraz or Deep Dish Deportation Center, makes a mockery of the American justice system.

Our country remains divided because of people like Johnson who think mocking immigrants is funny and/or provides a foundation for constructive dialogue. The Batman video only serves Johnson’s interest and those who believe that immigrants, especially Mexicans, are not only evil but deserve no compassion.

Dehumanizing individuals increases the possibility of violence and for conflicts to spiral out of control. Once that happens, it gives people the green light to violently attack those who are being stripped of their dignity and human traits. Morality gets thrown out the window.

No one wins. Most importantly, the United States loses.

Trump, in his effort to carry out the “largest deportation” in U.S. history, said many times that he would focus on freeing communities of undocumented immigrants with a criminal history. Thus far, he is failing.

Johnson’s video, which has gotten almost 1 million views, only underscores a Republican reluctance to take immigration reform seriously.

The real Batman, the one I grew up watching, would never attack defenseless or innocent people. A comic figure has more morals than Johnson.

That is sickening.

This story was originally published October 7, 2025 at 2:57 PM with the headline "MAGA ‘Batman’ beating up on immigrants only condones more violence | Opinion."