Post came in response to rumor of ‘huge migrant caravan’
Brian Dawkins says he did not give permission for footage
The NFL has asked the US Department of Homeland Security to take down a video likening former Eagles star Brian Dawkins’s most violent hits to a clampdown on immigrants.
The video posted to social media on Sunday shows Dawkins’ pregame walkout as he chants “The time has come,” followed by a series of violent hits from his playing career. The DHS post includes the caption “Our time has come” in response to a social media account claiming a “huge migrant caravan” is approaching the United States’ southern border.
“The league has requested the DHS take down the video,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said Monday. In a text, Dawkins told ESPN he had not given permission for his image to be used by the DHS. “I have very respectfully not given permission,” he wrote.
Dawkins was a nine-time Pro Bowler known for his physical play during 16 NFL seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos before retiring in 2011. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2018.
The DHS has used other US sports in its social media posts. In 2025, IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward and officials from the racing series were shocked by a DHS post that touted plans for an immigration detention center in Indiana dubbed “Speedway Slammer”. It included a car with the same number as that of O’Ward, then the only Mexican driver in the series.
“It caught a lot of people off guard. Definitely caught me off guard,” O’Ward said at the time. “I was just a little bit shocked at the coincidences of that and, you know, of what it means... I don’t think it made a lot of people proud, to say the least.”
The post included an AI-generated image of an IndyCar-style vehicle with O’Ward’s No 5 that has “ICE” stamped on it. In the image, the car is in front of a jail.