The Trump administration is ramping up messaging around its mass deportation campaign — and encouraging the public to report undocumented immigrants to federal authorities.
A graphic shared on social media by the Department of Homeland Security shows an Uncle Sam character wearing a top hat and hanging up a poster that says “Help your country and yourself.” Below the image is a phone number for an ICE hotline and another sentence in all caps that reads: Report all foreign invaders.
Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director with the Detention Watch Network, says that invokes past eras of American history.
“We can look back to World War II and the targeting of Japanese Americans and others, the ripping apart of communities and putting people in detention camps because of where they were born,” Ghandehari said.
That messaging comes as ICE detention numbers are on the rise. An analysis of federal data by Ghandehari’s group found more than 50,000 people are being held in the agency’s custody at facilities around the U.S. and at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay. That’s up from just under 40,000 before President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
