Drag Race icon calls ICE a ‘terrorist organisation’ at LA Pride: ‘Human beings are not illegal’
Drag Race icon Alaska (L) spoke out about the current mass deportations in the US at LA Pride on 8 June (TikTok/Getty)
Drag Race icon Alaska (L) spoke out about the current mass deportations in the US at LA Pride on 8 June (TikTok/Getty)
Famed RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Alaska – full name, Alaska Thunderf**k 5000 – has gone viral on social media following a powerful speech she made at LA Pride 2025 calling out the ongoing ICE raids in the US.
ICE stands for US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, a federal agency that enforces the country’s immigration laws, including arresting and deporting people the agency believes are in the country illegally. ICE was formed in 2002, in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
The department has been the focus of increasingly incendiary protests across the US in recent days, after ICE stepped up the frequency of its raids and arrests against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s aggressive push to raise deportation numbers. The agency arrested a record 2,200 people on 4 June, according to NBC, in increase from 660 per day during the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency, the BBC reports.
Los Angeles saw the largest protest so far erupt into unrest, anger and civil disobedience over the weekend (7-8 June) prompting president Trump to send 700 US Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to the LA area, a crackdown that has led to activists being hit with rubber bullets, as well as tear gas and flashbang grenades.
LA’s annual Pride parade was held the same weekend, and Drag Race star Alaska was one of the performers.
She used her platform to denounce the ongoing ICE raids, which have seen families separated, and asylum seekers including a gay makeup artist deported to a notorious supermax prison in El Salvador known as CECOT.
“Treating people like human beings is not negotiable”
In a clip that has since gone viral, Alaska, who was a runner-up on season five of Drag Race, tells the LA Pride parade crowd: “ICE is a terrorist organisation. Human beings are not illegal. To protest is part of the f**king fabric of this country. Treating people like f**king human beings is not f**king negotiable.”
@alaskaalaskaalaska Pride will always be a riot.
♬ original sound – alaskaalaskaalaska
She continued: “Pride is a f**king party but Pride is also a f**king riot, OK? Our ability to get together like this as a community, to stand in one place all together is very powerful, especially in 2025.”
The clip went viral on TikTok, racking up almost 350,000 views so far, and attracting over 1000 comments, mostly from people supportive of Alaska’s stance and praising her for using her platform to condemn ICE’s actions.
Fellow Drag Race alum Aquaria wrote: “That’s how it’s done.”
Another commenter said: “This is how you’re meant to use a platform.”
A third added: “I knew we could count on Alaska to stand up for what’s right.”
