On Tuesday, the Trump administration unveiled another disturbing nickname for an immigrant detention facility — this time in Indiana.
“If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indiana’s Speedway Slammer,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a post on X.
DHS then shared an image of a race car adorned with ICE lettering and bearing a No. 5 label, which is the number for Pato O’Ward, the only Mexican driver in the IndyCar series.
Both posts allude to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which famously hosts the Indy 500 each year, and is located roughly 75 miles from a newly announced detention site.
They also come as MAGA voters have gleefully welcomed Republicans’ shocking moniker for the “Alligator Alcatraz” facility in the Everglades — and point to how Trump officials have used these names to make light of their cruel practices.
In a press release, Noem said the agency would be partnering with Indiana to detain as many as 1,000 immigrants at the state’s Miami Correctional Facility. The arrangement is similar to the one the administration used in Florida: Under a policy known as 287(g), federal authorities can work with state and local officials on expanding immigration enforcement, including detention. In Indiana’s case, it won’t be building a new facility, but housing people in vacant beds at an existing one.
Noem’s branding attempts have generated significant backlash given how casually the agency is referring to an immigrant detention facility, which plays a key role in Trump’s violent and hardline enforcement practices. Additionally, the graphic containing O’Ward’s car number has been criticized as racist since it appears to single him out, as federal agents have targeted Mexican immigrants and other people of color. The use of the speedway imagery has been contested as well, with IndyCar requesting that its intellectual property not be utilized in this way.
“It caught a lot of people off guard. Definitely caught me off guard,” O’Ward said on Wednesday of the DHS image. “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.”
IndyCar also pushed back in a Wednesday statement.
“We were unaware of plans to incorporate our imagery as part of yesterday’s announcement,” the organization said. “Consistent with our approach to public policy and political issues, we are communicating our preference that our IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter.” The town of Speedway, Indiana, which is home to the famous racetrack, put out a statement noting that it hadn’t been involved in the naming process, either.
“An AI generated image of a car with ‘ICE’ on the side does not violate anyone’s intellectual property rights,” a DHS spokesperson said in a response to IndyCar. “DHS will continue promoting the ‘Speedway Slammer’ as a comprehensive and collaborative approach to combating illegal immigration.”
DHS’ actions follow Noem’s statements describing “Alligator Alcatraz” as a model that the agency intends to replicate across multiple states due to what she says are cost savings and convenience the federal government can get out of these partnerships.
The Florida facility has been condemned for the inhumane treatment of detainees there, including a lack of water to bathe in, sweltering temperatures, and unreliable access to counsel.
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