By Steve Neavling
Norman Rockwell’s family is condemning the Department of Homeland Security for using his artwork in social media posts promoting anti-immigration messages, saying the images distort his values.
The posts, shared across DHS’s Facebook, Instagram, and X accounts, featured Rockwell’s paintings alongside slogans like “Protect our American way of life” and “DEFEND your culture.” In an opinion piece published in USA Today, Rockwell’s descendants said the artist would be “devastated” to see his work “marshalled for the cause of persecution toward immigrant communities and people of color.”
“We — as his eldest son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren — believe that now is the time to follow in his footsteps and stand for the values he truly wished to share with us and all Americans: compassion, inclusiveness and justice for all,” they wrote.
One post paired the phrase “Protect our American way of life” with Rockwell’s 1971 painting Salute the Flag, The New York Times reports. Another overlaid his 1946 image of men repairing the Statue of Liberty’s torch with “PROTECT your homeland DEFEND your culture.”
Rockwell’s descendants pointed to his later work, such as The Problem We All Live With — depicting Ruby Bridges integrating a New Orleans school — as proof that he championed equality, not exclusion.
A DHS spokesperson responded by linking to an August press release accusing the media of focusing on “artists not happy with our social media” instead of “the horrific and tragic stories” of crimes by undocumented immigrants.
The Rockwell family’s criticism follows similar objections from the families of artist Thomas Kinkade and from creators of the video game Halo, after DHS used their work to promote its messaging. The department has not removed the Rockwell posts.
