The video of a Halloween display of what appears to portray two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents lynched from the gallows in a Houston neighborhood is inflaming political passions on social media.
FreedomNews.TV posted a video of the display on X Friday, saying it was Houston’s largely Hispanic 2nd ward. The flag of Mexico is displayed on a pole over the property.
The two figures hanging have red caps on their heads and masks over their faces and are dressed in khaki law-enforcement-like pants with zip ties tucked into their belts — paraphernalia that represents the ICE crackdown on alien criminals and the Make America Great Again movement.
Next to the gallows is what appears to be the hangman, a male mannequin dressed in a traditional Hispanic shirt and a straw hat. Two full-size coffins flank the gallows.
“In Houston’s predominantly Hispanic 2nd Ward neighborhood, a family’s annual Halloween display has caused controversy online and throughout the community after many have flocked to see the spectacle,” Freedom News posted with the video.
Predictably, the display is generating diverse reactions among those posting under the X report.
“As a Mexican American this is so cool!… Makes our county great! They are getting rid of demons! Love our Mexican heritage!” wrote one.
“Imagine if conservatives hung Obama mannequins — media would lose their minds. But this gets called ‘Halloween decoration.’ The double standard is insane,” wrote another.
Another evoked the attempts on the life of President Donald Trump and the assassination of Charlie Kirk earlier this month, writing:
“In 2024, I found out how many people would celebrate someone murdering a president. In 2025, I found out how many would celebrate murdering me.”
As of Friday, local news outlets in Houston had not covered the display. Also, the TV-tracking website Primetimer, reported the incident “has not been confirmed by law enforcement or other officials in the area.”
However, gallows have been used in the past to express political beliefs.
In 2016, Donald Trump was hung in a Halloween display in front of a house in the 2nd Ward only a few days prior to the presidential election that resulted in the New York developer’s first term in office.
The homeowner, interviewed by a Houston TV station, said he didn’t like candidate Trump’s comments about Hispanic immigrants.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
