Overview

The White House's Studio Ghibli AI Deportation Tweet refers to a March 2025 controversy surrounding a tweet posted by the official White House Twitter / X account (@WhiteHouse) under President Donald Trump's second administration, which attached an AI image of deported illegal immigrant Virginia Basora-Gonzalez run through the Studio Ghibli AI Generator using ChatGPT-4o Image Generation. The image shows a white male Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer handcuffing a crying Basora-Gonzalez who's wearing a netted hair cap, black shirt and grey pants. The image was in the style of Studio Ghibli anime art. The tweet sparked outrage and backlash from some American citizens who believed that it was insensitive, heartless and akin to fascism. The negative connotation of the image was contrasted by the Studio Ghibli art style, which is widely beloved. The contrast caused new levels of discourse and debate, which ultimately touched on the ethics of AI art and the use of artificial intelligence in general. Many also believed that the White House's tweet ended the meme trend, akin to gripes against brands and companies co-opting memes. Overall, the tweet added to a growing consensus among President Trump's detractors that the White House Twitter account was being used improperly to spread alt-right propaganda.

Background

In late March 2025, a tweet from X^[1] user @GrantSlatton started a viral AI art craze called the "Studio Ghibli AI Trend," involving the use of GPT-4o to turn photos into Studio Ghibli anime scenes.

Two days later, on March 27th, the official U.S. White House account on X^[2] shared a quote tweet. The post referenced the deportation of Virginia Basora-Gonzalez, who was described in the tweet as a "previously deported alien felon convicted of fentanyl trafficking." Photos showed Basora-Gonzalez being taken into custody by ICE officers in Philadelphia. Her arrest was covered by the New York Post,^[4] among other outlets, and occurred on March 13th.^[3]

The quote tweet attached an AI-generated image of a crying Basora-Gonzalez being handcuffed by an ICE officer. It was in the Studio Ghibli style akin to the GPT-4o art trend. In a day, the White House's quote tweet received over 51 million views, 133,000 likes and 12,000 replies (shown below).

Online Reactions

On March 27th, 2025, a slew of reactions to the White House's tweet landed on social media. For instance, on that day, X^[5] user @DanielleFong quoted the post, writing, "OK guys. It's cooked. It's over. The White House is ghiblifying fasciporn," gaining over 8,700 likes in a day (shown below).

Similarly, X^[6] user @jaubreyYT quote tweeted the White House that same day, writing, "What the fuck can you even say about this man," gaining over 225,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Also on March 27th, 2025, Bluesky ^[7] user @mrsbettybowers posted a screenshot of the tweet, writing, "I had to check to see if this sick image was really from the White House. It is. #HillbillyIsis," receiving over 1,900 likes in a day (shown below).

Various Reactions

Search Interest

External References