Online accounts linked to the Trump administration are sharing images of a pumpkin carved with a sombrero and a fake Halloween backdrop featuring a Black man apparently accused of food assistance fraud. Critics have condemned the posts as inflammatory rhetoric.
The posts appeared just days before the midterm elections as the government pursues a broad campaign highlighting aggressive immigration enforcement and efforts to combat fraud. Those efforts are being promoted as a way to protect taxpayer money at a time when rising healthcare costs and other economic pressures have made affordability a major concern for voters.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins posted a photo Saturday on X showing the Black man standing before stacks of what appear to be U.S. currency. The image carries the headline “SNAP FRAUDSTER,” an apparent reference to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.
He appears to be holding up a banknote that has been set on fire.
“Some costumes come with a price tag. This one comes with a prison sentence,” the image says, against a backdrop designed to resemble Spirit Halloween costume packaging.
A separate image posted by the White House on X Thursday showed a pumpkin carved in the shape of a sombrero alongside the words, “Spooky szn is here.”
Rollins, whom Trump nominated to become U.S. agriculture secretary in November 2024, appears to have taken her image from a September 2025 Instagram post published by an account using the name Shawty Dred.
Earlier this month, Mercedes Reshard New, whom the Justice Department describes as a social media personality also known as “Shawty Dred,” was arrested on federal charges alleging that he fraudulently obtained more than $4 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in Georgia.
This is not the first time the White House has faced criticism over inflammatory images posted to official government social media accounts.
A little more than a year ago, during a government shutdown, the White House revived a deepfake video posted by Trump that showed House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a fake mustache and sombrero. The video accused Democrats of serving illegal immigrants instead of U.S. citizens. Jeffries called the meme bigoted. It was played repeatedly in the White House briefing room, although Vice President JD Vance said the “sombrero memes will stop” if Democrats agreed to end the shutdown.
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The NAACP did not respond to an email requesting comment. The White House and Rollins also did not respond.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has intensified its anti-immigrant rhetoric and its accusations of fraud. One target has been U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose Washington, D.C., home was searched by federal agents earlier this month as authorities investigate possible fraud involving her family’s immigration paperwork. Omar, who was born in Somalia, is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
The administration has also taken punitive steps tied to fraud allegations in predominantly Democratic-led states, including California and Minnesota. The governors of both states have accused the federal government of singling them out for political reasons.
Federal prosecutors said in an Oct. 21 news release that New controlled more than 350 fraudulent SNAP accounts opened under stolen identities between January 2020 and July 2026. Prosecutors allege that he applied for his company, Shawty Dred LLC, to become an authorized SNAP retailer and used electronic benefit transfer cards to withdraw roughly $4 million from the accounts.
Prosecutors said New’s Instagram account, which has more than 2 million followers, showcased an extravagant lifestyle. The posts feature him flying on private jets, posing beside Rolls-Royce vehicles outside his “super mansion” and handling large stacks of cash.
“Instead of this money feeding families in need, New, the social media personality known as ‘Shawty Dred,’ allegedly used the cash to bankroll a life of luxury,” FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham said in the release.
A federal grand jury indicted New on Oct. 7 on dozens of counts of mail fraud and aggravated identity theft, along with one count each of SNAP fraud and illegal transactions involving access devices. He was arrested Oct. 13 and remains in federal custody.
Fulton County jail records show that New has been arrested multiple times on suspicion of offenses including identity theft, insurance fraud, financial transaction card fraud, forgery and simple assault.
Joseph Austin, a federal defender listed in court records as representing New, did not return a phone message.
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