Former U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials criticized the Trump administration for erecting billboards of immigrants it seeks to arrest in a key 2020 battleground state, saying the public messaging campaign exacerbates concerns about the politicization of immigration enforcement.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Friday it had placed several "WANTED" billboards across Pennsylvania depicting immigrants recently arrested by local authorities in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The immigrants, who ICE said were not authorized to be in the U.S., were released after being charged — but not convicted — with crimes ranging from public intoxication and disorderly conduct, to robbery and aggravated assault.
ICE said the billboards are designed to "educate the public" about the "dangers" of so-called "sanctuary" policies that limit local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The billboards include photos of individuals who ICE calls "public safety threats," some of their charges, the name of the local jurisdiction that released them and a phone number to call with information about the cases.
Beneath each photo, ICE warns: "CRIMINAL ALIEN Sanctuary Policies are a REAL DANGER."
"The placement and the timing — the placement being Pennsylvania and the timing being a month before the election — make it clear that this is a political move, not related to operational matters," David Lapan, a retired U.S. Marine colonel and former DHS press secretary during the Trump administration, told CBS News. "We're almost four years into the administration. Why wasn't this done sooner if that was something they thought was important?"
John Sandweg, who led ICE on an acting basis during the Obama administration, said he doesn't believe the agency "has ever done anything" like the billboards. "It's a political advertisement in favor of the president or at a minimum, against politicians that they disagree with. And that's just wildly inappropriate," Sandweg told CBS News.
