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Former Superman star Dean Cain has been slammed after announcing he was joining ICE to ‘help save America’.
The actor – born Dean George Tanaka – rose to fame in the 1990s when playing Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
However, Dean, whose biological father was of Japanese descent, has now shocked many by sharing he’s now turning his focus to joining the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Posting a video on social media, he explained his reasoning.
‘I am a sworn law enforcement officer, as well as being a filmmaker, and I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it. So, I joined up,’ he said.
‘Since President Trump took office, ICE has arrested hundreds of thousands of criminals including terrorists, rapists, murderers, paedophiles, MS-13 gang members, drug traffickers…you name it. Very dangerous people who are no longer on the streets.’
He then went on to encourage others to sign up too, pushing how people could ‘earn lots of great benefits and pay’.
As the theme music of Superman played, he told followers: ‘You can defend your homeland for great benefits’. He then cited a $50,000 (£37,000) signing bonus, student loan repayment, enhanced retirement benefits, and special pay.
Dean then added that ICE was ‘helping save America and remove the worst of the worst from America’s streets’.
‘I like that, and I voted for that. They need your help to protect our homeland and our families. Join today if that’s something that’s tickled your fancy…because we need you.’
He captioned the post: ‘Join ICE! We need you to help protect US.’
Although Dean did receive some support, many people flooded his post with comments questioning his decision and attempts to bring others on board.
‘Until I saw this, I was such a fan,’ Jamy commented.
‘Shame on you Dean – that’s the most un-Superman thing you could possibly advocate,’ a Supergirl fan page shared.
‘This is incredibly ironic coming from a direct descendant of Japanese immigrants,’ Gabriella added.
During an appearance on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime on Wednesday, Dean spoke about his recruitment video and said America was a country ‘built on patriots stepping up, whether it was popular or not’.
‘We have a broken immigration system. Congress needs to fix it, but in the interim, President Trump ran on this. He is delivering on this. This is what people voted for. It’s what I voted for, and he’s going to see it through, and I’ll do my part and help make sure it happens,’ he said.
In recent months ICE has been undertaking immigration raids across the US, with directives to aim for a minimum of 3,000 arrests a day.
The raids – which also sparked mass protests across the country – have seen undocumented people, residents with protected legal status, and even American citizens pulled off the streets and held in custody or deported.
Although some people arrested have had criminal records, reports have also shown that many of those taken into custody have no past offenses.
As part of Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ recently, an extra $75billion (£56billion) was allocated to ICE, which included money to hire an additional 10,000 agents in the next four years.
Since 2018 Dean has been a reserve police officer for the St. Anthony Police Department in Idaho.
That same year he was elected to the board of directors of the National Rifle Association of America.
He previously told Variety about his support for Trump, saying: ‘I love President Trump. I’ve been friends with him forever. Trump is actually one of the most empathetic, wonderful, generous people you’ll ever meet.’
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