Billboards against Customs Enforcement (ICE)!
The campaign, titled “ICE Costs Us,” was launched by the civil rights organization Mijente.
Miami, US, Mar 2 (EFE).-
More than 200 billboards criticizing the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) appeared on Monday in cities across the country, including Miami, highlighting the high cost of the agency’s enforcement operations for taxpayers.
The campaign, titled “ICE Costs Us,” was launched by the civil rights organization Mijente. Billboards were installed in 31 cities, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Antonio, and will remain in place for the next four weeks.
“Millions of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, yet this violent agency continues to operate with a blank check,” said Marisa Franco, co-founder of the Mijente Support Committee, in a statement.
“It’s clear that these choices don’t make us safer and have no impact on improving our economic security. Our billboards put a spotlight on these choices and demand a different path forward,” Franco told local media.
The billboards feature images of ICE agents arresting individuals during immigration raids and carrying military-style weapons. According to Mijente, spending on military equipment for ICE has increased by 600 percent in recent years.
“Your tax $ wasted,” reads most of the billboards, which claim that ICE costs taxpayers 28 billion dollars in the agency’s annual budget, describing the funding of ICE as “a slippery slope to fascism.”
Other messages compare spending on ICE’s military equipment with cuts to social programs, noting that 17 million people could lose Medicaid coverage under budget reductions enacted during the administration of President Donald Trump.
“Billions of dollars are being funneled into raids, cages, and surveillance that tear our families and neighborhoods apart,” the campaign said. EFE
hbc/bks/dmv
