When Republicans passed Trump’s economic agenda recently, they set aside $170 billion for immigration and border enforcement, including $75 billion in additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Of that $75 billion, $45 billion will go to building and operating new concentration camps ICE detention centers that will house all the people the administration decides are undesirables. The Department of Homeland Security also recently announced a new Indiana facility that it nicknamed the Speedway Slammer, a move that seriously upset IndyCar, the Daily Beast reports.
It wasn’t just that Republicans announced their detention facility with a cutesy Speedway-inspired nickname that got IndyCar so worked up, though. DHS also went a step further and tweeted out their announcement with an (almost definitely) AI-generated image showing an IndyCar race car wearing an ICE livery as it drives past what appears to be a massive prison complex. The text included in the tweet reads, “The Speedway Slammer 🏁.” It also included the number 5 in the livery, which is the number of the car driven by Pato O’Ward, who is Mexican.
While racing fans are notoriously conservative, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway didn’t exactly love DHS using its intellectual property, without its consent, to advertise a 1,000-bed detention facility. When contacted for a comment, the Speedway told WISH-TV, “We were unaware of plans to incorporate our imagery as part of today’s announcement. Consistent with our approach to public policy and political issues, we are communicating our preference that our IP (intellectual property) not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter.”
Trying to make ‘Speedway Slammer’ stick
While the DHS tweet was the administration’s most egregious use of Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s intellectual property, it’s not the only one that used the “Speedway Slammer” nickname. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem also recently posted, “COMING SOON to Indiana: The Speedway Slammer,” in a tweet that also read, “If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indiana’s Speedway Slammer. Avoid arrest and self deport now using the @CBP Home App.” So not only are these facilities all apparently getting their own cutesy nicknames, but DHS is also really trying to make “Speedway Slammer” stick.
Claims that these facilities are only for “the worst of the worst” who are also here illegally are hard to take them at face value when we’ve already seen plenty of cases of ICE and Border Patrol detaining U.S. citizens. And since Republicans are doing their best to throw the right to a fair trial out the window, there’s no way to know what evidence there is that any of these detainees are actually undocumented, much less whether or not they actually committed any crimes. Even if they actually did commit real crimes, Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” is already being sued following reports of alleged human rights abuses, and there’s no reason to think the Indiana facility will be any less inhumane.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway probably can’t stop the facility from being built, but hopefully, it fights against its IP being used to advertise a new U.S.-built concentration camp. We’ve reached out to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for comment and will update this post if we hear back.
