The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using taxpayer money to install billboards in Texas offering assistance to people who have friends or family members in immigration detention.
DHS officials provided a photo of one of the signs along an interstate in Texas that reads, “Your brother in immigration custody has rights. We are here to help.” I’m here,” it says.
The ad is part of a campaign by DHS’ Immigration Detention Ombudsman Office (IDO). The IDO is an independent office within DHS that assists individuals with complaints regarding possible violations of immigration detention standards or other misconduct by employees. The office also oversees immigration detention facilities.
Congress created this office in 2019, and Michelle Brannet currently serves as IDO for DHS.
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Billboards along interstate highways in Texas, paid for by the Department of Homeland Security, advertise aid to illegal immigrants. (Fox News)
Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Border Patrol and others told Fox News’ Bill Melgin they are furious about the ad, especially since the agency is already operating with limited funds and resources. spoke.
But DHS is spending money on billboards that the same sources claim work against them and are “derogatory.”
Fox News asked DHS questions last week, including how much taxpayer money was used to pay for the signs, how many signs there were and how many were erected in which states.
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Texas National Guard soldiers watch over 1,000 migrants cross the Rio Grande from Mexico overnight in Eagle Pass, Texas, December 18, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)
DHS was also asked how it would respond to criticism that billboards from the agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws express soft messages against illegal immigrants.
In response, DHS drew from the history of the Office of the Ombudsman, adding that DHS and its employees provide the highest standards of care to individuals in its custody.
No further information regarding the outreach campaign was provided.
Texas lawmakers took to social media to voice their concerns about the signs.
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Illegal immigrants on Texas’ southern border. (Texas Department of Public Safety)
“The news that DHS is using taxpayer money to install billboards asserting the ‘rights’ of individuals in ‘immigration detention’ is alarming because this is what radical progressive Democrats “It’s a precursor to the legal arguments we’ll use to oppose the deportation of millions of people abandoned in America,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said at X, “Biden, Harris, Mayorkas. “Congress shouldn’t be funding propaganda aimed at undermining our own laws. That’s insane.”
He also said that any illegal immigrant in the United States, even a legal immigrant who breaks the law, “can and should be deported.”
“Americans should not pay for free legal advice for criminal aliens,” Roy added.
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Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas) similarly spoke out, saying DHS has put the agenda of open borders ahead of its mission to keep American families safe.
“Whether FEMA is splurging hundreds of millions of dollars on immigrant housing or OIDO is running ads like this, our government is putting money on the wrong priorities,” he said. Ta. “It’s time for Congress to end programs like this.”
Bill Melgin is currently a correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Los Angeles. He joined the network in May 2021.
