Utah MAGA Republican Senator Mike Lee deleted a post he made on X about Mexican drug cartel hitmen being like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. But it wasn't because of the racist xenophobia and Democrat bashing his post was trying to promote.
Lee deleted his latest social media blunder because too many people pointed out his comparison of cartel hitmen to MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's ICE wasn't the gotcha to "leftists" that he intended.
On Sunday, Mexican authorities killed drug cartel kingpin Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes in the forest near Tapalpa, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, southeast of Puerto Vallarta and west of Mexico City. The death of Cervantes lead to retaliatory violence in the region.
Lee shared a video clip on X of men in masks—either cartel hitmen or ICE agents, he didn't specify which they were—getting gas.
He captioned the clip:
"Cartel hitmen wear masks."
"Leftists aren’t complaining."
You can see a screenshot of his since deleted video post here:
@BasedMikeLee/X
Several of Lee's fellow Senators responded to his declaration that lawless, violent individuals—like cartel hitmen or ICE agents—wear masks.
Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy reshared Lee's post with the caption:
"Oh dear Mike. I literally couldn’t make our argument better than you do. The bad guys wear masks. The good guys don’t."
@ChrisMurphyCT/X
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York wrote:
"Yes. Cartel hitmen wear masks. That’s why ICE shouldn’t."
Hawaiian Democratic Senator Brian Schatz shared Lee's post with the message:
"Mike, I would like ICE to have the same standards as a local police department, not cartel hitmen."
Others also dunked on Lee online.
@cjoan223817
@wideofthepost/X
@mrmikebones/X
The account Polling USA shared Lee's post with the caption:
"pov you point out drug cartels do exactly what ICE does and you think you're owning the libs"
Then after Lee deleted it shared a screenshot of his post captioned:
"He deleted this post lmfaooo"
@USA_Polling/X
This isn't Lee's first time "tweeting then deleting" because he made a horse's hind end of himself on social media.
In 2020, his tweets were called out as pro-fascism. Lee again faced backlash in 2025 over a series of tweets about the assassination of Minnesota state Democratic Representative Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, and their dog Gilbert and the attempted assassination of Democratic state Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.
