John Oliver mocks 'Homelandmaxxing' of ICE and DHS after returning to 'Last Week Tonight'
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: John Oliver returned to late-night television on Sunday, February 15, with a characteristically sardonic recap of recent events, using the season premiere of 'Last Week Tonight' to take aim at US immigration agencies and their leadership.
After rattling through headlines ranging from the latest release of Epstein-related files to remarks by President Donald Trump, international disputes and election results, the comedian pivoted to a longer segment bashing immigration enforcement.
Here’s last night’s story about the Department of Homeland Security, how it’s emboldening ICE, and why it is – for some ungodly reason – allowing Kristi Noem to constantly cosplay as a law enforcement agent. We don’t care what they say, she does not need coast guard fatigues!
— Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (@lastweektonight.com) 16 February 2026 at 20:31
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John Oliver begins new 'Last Week Tonight' and targets ICE
After a three-month hiatus, Oliver opened the season premiere by joking about the sheer volume of news that occurred during 'Last Week Tonight’s' three-month break.
However, the bulk of the episode focused on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which Oliver criticized through a mix of budget analysis and pointed jokes.
He mocked a $100 million DHS recruitment advertising campaign that used militaristic imagery and patriotic symbolism.
Oliver described it as a “disturbing pattern of what sure seems like white nationalist dog whistles.”
The comedian said the show contacted DHS for comment, prompting one of the night’s sharpest punchlines.
Quoting the department’s response, he said that officials denied any dog whistles and defended their messaging, adding a line Oliver repeated with visible disbelief: “One could say, we are Homelandmaxxing by removing illegal aliens and defending our borders.”
Oliver quipped that it was “a sentence I genuinely feel dumber for saying out loud.”
John Oliver targets DHS Secretary Kristi Noem
The host also turned his attention to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, whom he portrayed as a social media-conscious political figure presiding over an agency enjoying a major funding surge.
Oliver described Noem as an “insistent cosplayer” while outlining how recent legislation dramatically expanded DHS and ICE budgets, joking that the department had effectively become a “Department of Deportation.”
"Noem's been put in charge of DHS at the moment when it's experiencing an unprecedented funding surge," he explained.
"Trump's Big Beautiful Bill last summer essentially doubled DHS' funding over the next four years, and it's worth looking at where all of that money is and, equally importantly, isn't going," he continued.
"Because DHS' resources are now being pointed at immigration more heavily than ever before, to the point that it has been called a 'veritable Department of Deportation.' ICE alone was handed an extra $75 billion to spend over Trump's term, tripling its annual budget," Oliver stated.
Throughout the segment, Oliver used comparisons for comic effect, saying public trust in ICE was now “hovering somewhere between Purdue Pharma and the Titan submersible,” a line that drew laughter and applause from the studio audience.
He closed the segment with a blunt assessment delivered in his trademark mix of seriousness and satire, arguing that ICE should be abolished and that DHS, as currently structured, was untenable.
Even so, Oliver warned that dismantling agencies alone would not fix the underlying problems, noting that the existing immigration system continued to leave millions vulnerable.
