NFL Tells Homeland Security to Pull Brian Dawkins Video

The NFL has asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to take down a video that used Brian Dawkins highlights to promote immigration enforcement.

League spokesman Brian McCarthy said Monday, "The league has requested the DHS take down the video," The Guardian reported. The request came one day after the video was posted.

The DHS clip, posted on Sunday, opens with Dawkins on his pregame walkout chanting, "The time has come." It then cuts to a montage of his biggest hits from his playing days. The post was captioned "Our time has come" and was framed as a response to a social media claim about a "huge migrant caravan" approaching the United States' southern border.

Dawkins says he never signed off. He told ESPN he had not given DHS permission to use his image. "I have very respectfully not given permission," he said.

For fans who did not see him play, Dawkins was one of the hardest-hitting safeties of his era — a defensive back who lined up deep and patrolled the middle of the field. He played 16 NFL seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos before retiring in 2011. He was a nine-time Pro Bowler, the league's annual all-star honor, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2018.

This is not the first time DHS has reached for racing or football imagery. In 2025, the agency promoted a planned Indiana immigration detention center dubbed "Speedway Slammer" with an AI-generated image of an IndyCar-style car bearing driver Pato O'Ward's No. 5 and "ICE" branding in front of a jail, The Guardian reported.

What makes this stand out is ownership. The NFL tightly controls game film. Players also control their own name and likeness. The league and one of its most respected retirees are now saying the same thing on both fronts.