DHS Taunts Zach Bryan by Using His Song in a Video Glorifying ICE: ‘We’re Having an All Night Revival’

In an age where departments of the United States government apparently engage in internet beef with musicians, Homeland Security is taunting Zach Bryan by using one of his songs in a video glorifying immigration enforcement officers. 

On Tuesday (Oct. 7), the DHS shared on Instagram a montage of heavily armed border patrol agents and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers descending on a crowd of protesters, unleashing tear gas and lining up people with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. The video is soundtracked by Bryan’s 2020 song “Revival.”

“We’re Having an All Night Revival,” the department wrote in the caption, quoting one of the musician’s lyrics.

Billboard has reached out to Bryan’s rep for comment.

The pointed video is just the latest development in a saga that began with the country star sharing a snippet of an unreleased song on Instagram on Oct. 3. Bryan sings on the track, “I heard the cops came/ Cocky motherf–kers, ain’t they? … And ICE is gonna come bust down your door/ Try to build a house no one builds no more.” 

The clip was captioned, “The fading of the red white and blue,” seemingly indicating Bryan’s disillusionment with the current state of the country. After facing backlash from the DHS and White House, however, the Grammy winner shared a statement clarifying his intent behind the song.

“This shows you how divisive a narrative can be when shoved down our throats through social media,” he wrote Tuesday on his Instagram Story. “This song is about how much I love this country and everyone in it more than anything. When you hear the rest of the song, you will understand the full context that hits on both sides of the aisle.” 

“Left wing or right wing, we’re all one bird and American,” he added at the time. “To all those disappointed in me on either side of whatever you believe in just know I’m trying my best too and we all say things that are misconstrued sometimes.”

The back-and-forth comes at a particularly tense time for immigrant communities in the U.S., which have been targeted by what Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has described as “military style” ICE raids. President Donald Trump has made mass deportations a core part of his second term. 

“While Zach Bryan wants to Open the Gates to criminal illegal aliens and has Condemned heroic ICE officers, Something in the Orange tells me a majority of Americans disagree with him and support President Trump’s great American Revival,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a recent statement responding to Bryan’s ICE lyrics. “Godspeed, Zach!”