White House Website Launches Arcade Games Where Users Arrest Immigrants and Build Border Wall

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration launched a series of arcade-style games on the official White House website Thursday, using the official digital platform to promote its immigration enforcement agenda in an unconventional and provocative manner .

The online arcade features several games centered on border security and the administration's political priorities. In "Rio Run," a Snake-style game, players control a character representing Border Patrol Chief Tom Homan and chase migrants along the Rio Grande, earning points for "deportations" . The player icon appears as an older White man in a blue tie, while the "crossers" are depicted in various skin tones. When captured, the figures suddenly appear in orange jumpsuits and follow behind the player .

Another game, "Build The Wall," challenges users to stack bricks in a Tetris-like format while "holding the line" against what the game describes as a "zombie border siege" . The instructions read: "Protect the border from the coming horde" .

The arcade also includes less overtly political games, such as one where users fly a bald eagle along the National Mall, and another where they collect diamonds and cash to fill their children's "Trump accounts" — investment accounts containing a $1,000 deposit for children born between 2025 and 2028 .

White House Defends the Initiative

A White House official defended the online arcade, telling CNN that the games are part of an effort to "further contrast between a culture of fun and winning and the dark socialist vision Democrats have for America" . The official also said the games are intended to "innovate and tell the story of the President's many accomplishments in a way that resonates with every American" .

The White House's X account promoted the arcade with a video featuring a logo styled after the classic Sega gaming logo, accompanied by the message: "CAN'T STOP WINNING. Build the wall. Deport. Fill a Trump Account" .

Outrage from Rights Groups

The games have sparked immediate backlash from advocacy organizations working along the southern border.

"It makes me sick. They've been playing games with people's lives for years, now they've made a video game of what they're doing," said Amerika Garcia Grewal, co-director of the Frontera Federation in Eagle Pass, Texas . "There's no attention paid to the quality of life for human beings, both those in their game or those in real life. We who live in the borderlands are US citizens and yet are treated with suspicion and violence" .

Adriana Jasso, program coordinator at AMIGOS San Diego Community, which works along the border, said the arcade games showed the administration's lack of seriousness. "It presents the issue as if it were a game, when in reality, it is not," she said, noting that people continue to die in detention centers .

Tetris Distances Itself

The Tetris brand, whose iconic block-stacking gameplay was seemingly referenced in "Build The Wall," posted on Instagram that it was not involved in the game's creation. "We take copyright infringement very seriously," the post said. "At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them" .

Political Messaging Through Official Platforms

The initiative reflects a broader trend in the Trump administration's approach to official government websites as tools for political messaging. In November, a White House official told CNN that the website was a vehicle to promote the administration's agenda and that officials could "weaponise it" in ways previous administrations had not .

The launch of the arcade comes amid continued criticism of the administration's use of official platforms for partisan messaging. The White House has previously faced backlash over controversial and offensive imagery posted through its official accounts .

Some users have shared their scores from the new games on X, while others questioned the administration's decision to devote attention to the online arcade amid major ongoing concerns including the Iran war and the rising cost of living .

The administration has defended the move as an innovative way to connect with Americans. But for critics along the border and beyond, the games are a disturbing trivialization of a deadly serious issue .