The Trump administration has spent over half a million dollars on social media and other online ads in which undocumented immigrants are threatened with deportation, according to a report.
The ads, which are circulating on YouTube, heavily feature Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and encourage migrants to engage in “self-deportation” through the Customs and Border Patrol CBP One app.
The government spent $594,600 on a campaign aiming to discourage irregular migration, as revealed by WIRED using data from the Google Ads Transparency Center. There are currently 30 ads actively circulating, each with its own target geographical area.
Of the total ad funding, 35% is going towards ads targeting California, with the government having spent $208,000 on advertising in that area. Other states in which ads received significant funding included Texas and Florida. However, other border states such as Arizona received significantly less funding than states containing migrant communities, providing insight into the Trump administration’s advertising strategy.
In February, the government announced its plan to launch a “multimillion-dollar ad campaign warning illegal aliens to leave our country now or face deportation with the inability to return to the United States.” The ads, which will air on broadcast television, social media and text messages, aim to prevent irregular migration by using targeting technology and confrontational language.
“If you are considering coming to the United States illegally, don’t even think about it. Let me be clear: If you come to our country and violate our laws, we will hunt you down. Criminals are not welcome,” Kristi Noem stated in one ad played in Mexico.
Mexican officials, including President Claudia Sheinbaum, have blasted the ads as “discriminatory” and urged broadcasters not to air them.
Originally published on Latin Times
