The White House’s latest bid to use a popular song to advance its anti-immigration agenda has gone silent. Just two days after the Trump administration posted a video focusing on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action to remove undocumented people, the clip cued to Kacey Musgraves‘ 2026 song “Mexico Honey” has been muted.
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The video now has a caption that reads “this sound isn’t available,” underneath a clip that features footage of men being handcuffed, detained and frogmarched onto planes with an on-screen message that says, “Criminal illegals are going back home.”
The lyrics to Musgraves’ fun, flirty tune from this year’s Middle of Nowhere album is an homage to an irresistible, magnetic love. “You’re going down smooth like Mexico, honey/ Take my heart, take all my money/ I want you so bad, it ain’t even funny/ I mean for real, what the hell/ You got me shaking my ass in my hot-pink shorts\/ You’re laying down laughing on the bathroom floor,” Musgraves sings on the breezy tune that has everything to do with infatuation and, seemingly, nothing to do with the project of massive deportations undertaken in the second Trump term.
The video’s caption still has a nod to the song’s lyrics, reading, “Goin back smooth,” along with a waving hand emoji.
At press time a spokesperson for Musgraves had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment and it did not appear as if the singer had made any public comments about the song’s removal; a spokesperson for ICE had also not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the removal of the song from the clip at press time.
In August, “Mexico Honey” became Musgraves’ first-ever solo top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when it peaked at No. 39; the song’s video was filmed in Mexico.
Texas native Musgraves weighed in on the administration’s immigration sweeps in June of 2025 on X when she hit out at the use of identity-concealing face coverings by officers, writing, “If protesters can’t wear masks ICE shouldn’t be able to either.”
Then, earlier this year, she teamed up with the Mariachi Brothers — comprised of three young men who were detained by ICE earlier this year despite previously performing on Capitol Hill — at a handful of album release shows in early May. Antonio, Caleb and Joshua Gámez-Cuéllar and their parents were detained in Texas for nearly two weeks before they were released in March amid growing pushback against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.
She also recently took a swipe at former Trump Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem after the current U.S. envoy dinged the singer for welcoming Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico to one of her shows earlier this month. “I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it,” Musgraves wrote on X, a zinger referencing Noem’s controversial account in her memoir of killing her 14-month-old family puppy because she claimed it ruined a pheasant hunt and once attempted to bite her.
Trump, facing historically low approval ratings heading into next month’s crucial midterms elections due to distress over the high cost of living and the devastating economic impact of the administration’s unprovoked war on Iran, has been a frequent critic of Talarico. The New York Times reported this week that Talarico appears to have a slight lead over Trump’s favored nominee, scandal-plagued Texas attorney general Ken Paxton.
The propaganda-style TikTok using Musgraves’ song, seemingly without her approval, appears to be similar to the visuals used in previous TikToks from ICE cued to Ariana Grande’s “Bye” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “All American Bitch.” For her part, last November, Rodrigo blasted the White House for using the song without her permission, writing in the comments, “don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda.”
Grande was equally angry when another ICE TikTok in June used her 2024 track “Bye” to promote ICE’s arrests. “Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. F— ICE,” Grande commented.
