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The National Football League has formally asked the Department of Homeland Security to remove a social media video that repurposed footage of one of its most celebrated retired players to promote the agency's border security posture, according to a league spokesperson.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed on Monday that the league had submitted the takedown request, saying simply, "The league has requested the DHS take down the video." The statement marked a rare public intervention by the NFL into a politically charged dispute over how federal agencies present their immigration enforcement work.
The video in question was published on Sunday and centers on Brian Dawkins, the former Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos safety who retired in 2011 following a 16-season career. In the clip, Dawkins is shown emerging from the tunnel before a game and delivering his signature chant, "the time has come."
That moment then gives way to a montage of Dawkins striking opposing players on the field, edited together over a heavy metal soundtrack. The Department of Homeland Security paired the footage with its own caption, "Our time has come," apparently borrowing the player's words to frame its border mission.
The choice of imagery was striking not only because of the source material but because of what it was meant to illustrate. According to the source account, the agency used the career highlights to signal its readiness to protect the United States border against what it described as a caravan of immigrants approaching the frontier.
Dawkins built a reputation as one of the hardest-hitting and most respected defensive backs of his era. His long tenure in Philadelphia made him a fan favorite, and his later stint with Denver added to a résumé that eventually earned him induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Highlights of his play carry a particular cultural weight among NFL audiences.
That resonance helps explain why the league moved quickly. Using a retired player's likeness in a government messaging campaign — particularly one tied to immigration enforcement — risks associating the NFL and its former athletes with a political position they did not endorse. The league's request stops short of a legal threat but signals that it regards the usage as inappropriate.
The episode also reflects how thoroughly immigration has become a defining issue of President Donald Trump's second term. Trump has characterized the movement of migrants across the border from Mexico as an "invasion," and his administration has deployed federal forces in cities across the country to detain undocumented people.
The video's reference to a caravan echoes a earlier chapter of Trump's immigration policy. During his first term, he deployed thousands of troops to the Mexican border to halt a caravan of Central American migrants traveling north. Critics at the time described that deployment as a vast overreaction and dismissed it as a political stunt timed to the 2018 midterm elections.
The new post suggests the administration continues to treat such caravans as a useful frame for its border messaging, even as the specifics of migration flows have changed. By attaching that message to a football hero, the agency appeared to be aiming for a cultural shortcut — borrowing the language of sports competition to cast border enforcement as a contest to be won.
For the NFL, the dispute arrives at an awkward moment. The league has spent years trying to manage its public image around patriotism, protest and politics, and it has generally resisted having its players or footage enlisted in partisan causes. A request to a federal agency to pull a video is a measured step, but it places the league in direct tension with the Department of Homeland Security.
The Department of Homeland Security has not publicly indicated whether it will comply. As of the league's statement, the video's status remained a point of contention, and there was no immediate comment from the agency on the NFL's request.
Dawkins himself has not been reported as commenting on the video. His representatives likewise were not cited in the source account, leaving open the question of whether the former player consented to or was even aware of the use of his footage before it was posted.
The broader implications extend beyond one clip. Federal agencies have increasingly turned to social media to promote enforcement operations, and their use of popular culture — sports footage, music, film clips — can blur the line between public information and political advertising. When the material belongs to a private entity like the NFL, that blurring can trigger intellectual property and publicity concerns.
The timing of the post, on a Sunday, also placed it squarely in the middle of the NFL's regular-season schedule, when football content dominates social media feeds. That maximizes visibility but also raises the stakes for the league, which must weigh its brand interests against the appearance of picking a fight with the government.
For now, the standoff rests on a simple request: the NFL wants the video taken down, and DHS has yet to say whether it will honor that. How the agency responds could set a precedent for how federal departments use privately owned sports footage in immigration messaging going forward.
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