Pete Davidson returns to SNL, slams ICE agents in satirical sketch

Portrays border czar Tom Homan addressing a group of fictional ICE agents

Pete Davidson made a return to Saturday Night Live during the show's cold open, delivering a pointed and satirical sketch that took aim at ICE agents and government confusion. The appearance marked one of Davidson's most talked-about returns since leaving the long-running NBC series.

In the sketch, Davidson portrayed border czar Tom Homan, addressing a group of fictional ICE agents during a briefing. The segment leaned heavily into political satire, mocking mixed messaging, public controversies and the agency's obsession with avoiding public scrutiny rather than accountability. At one point, Davidson's character jokingly suggested that the real problem wasn't misconduct, but the fact that it was caught on camera.

The sketch escalated as agents appeared increasingly confused about their mission, offering absurd guesses that reflected broader cultural and political chaos. Davidson's character attempted to rein them in, repeatedly emphasizing optics over action, culminating in the blunt advice to simply "not get filmed."

The cold open set the tone for the episode, blending absurd humor with topical commentary in classic SNL fashion. Davidson's return was met with strong reactions online, with viewers praising his delivery and the sketch's willingness to tackle controversial subject matter head-on.

A former SNL cast member, Davidson has made occasional guest appearances since his departure, but this return stood out as one of the most memorable moments of the season, reaffirming his enduring connection to the show and its political satire legacy.

Davidson's earliest onscreen appearance was in the third episode of the MTV comedy series Failosophy, which premiered February 28, 2013.[15] The following month, he appeared in "PDA and Moms", a third-season episode of the MTV2 reality TV comedy series Guy Code, the first of four episodes in which he was featured.[16] That June, his first televised standup aired as part of a second-season episode of the Comedy Central program Gotham Comedy Live, which showcases standup comedians at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City. The following month, he returned to MTV2 with an appearance on Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out, his first of six appearances on that show. He subsequently made standup appearances on television and appeared in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.[17] In 2014, he acquired a role in a Fox comedy pilot, Sober Companion,[18] but it ultimately did not make it to series.[19]

Davidson joined the cast of Saturday Night Live with the show's 40th-season premiere, which aired on September 27, 2014. At age 20, he was the first SNL cast member to be born in the 1990s and one of the youngest cast members ever.