Halo developers have mixed reactions to the Trump administration’s ICE post comparing immigrants to the Flood
Earlier this week, the Trump administration took a liking to Halo’s Master Chief and shared an AI image of President Donald Trump donning Chief’s MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor, saluting the American flag. The Department of Homeland Security also used images of a Warthog for an ICE recruitment ad, referring to immigrants as the aliens known as “Flood.”
The official White House X account posted the image of Trump wearing Master Chief’s armor holding a Covenant energy sword with the caption “Power to the Players.” However, things escalated as DHS posted the Warthog image with the caption “Destroy The Flood” and “Finishing this fight,” along with a link to join ICE.
Halo: Combat Evolved developers were shocked and spoke to Game File on the matter. Co-creator of the Halo franchise, Marcus Lehto, and lead designer of Master Chief, called DHS’s ICE post “absolutely abhorrent.” He further mentioned, “It really makes me sick seeing Halo co-opted like this.”
Jaime Griesemer, who worked as lead designer for Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, along with additional work on Halo 3: ODST, and Halo Reach, also chimed in on the conversation.
He found the Trump meme pretty funny, but when it came to the ICE post, he had this to say, “Using Halo imagery in a call to ‘destroy’ people because of their immigration status goes way too far, and ought to offend every Halo fan, regardless of political orientation… I find it despicable. The Flood are evil space zombie parasites and are not an allegory to any group of people.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Marty O’ Donnell, who is known for Halo’s legendary theme and, coincidentally, is also a Republican congressional candidate for Nevada, approved of the ICE ad and posted on X, stating, “When I win, I will ‘work with the Trump administration to destroy the Flood once and for all!’”
Amid the chaos, the Halo subreddit lifted its “no politics or AI slop” rule for this reason, with one user commenting, “God, I’m so tired of the White House acting like an edgy 17-year-old.”
While all this is happening, Microsoft has chosen to remain silent on the matter, which is seen as politically polarizing, with a spokesperson telling PC Gamer that “Microsoft does not have anything to share on this matter.”
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