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Texas is installing ominous billboards warning migrants that they could be kidnapped or raped if they make the journey to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
The billboards, which began going up this week, are part of a new campaign to dissuade migrants from entering Texas illegally before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference on Thursday. The campaign, he said in a release, is meant to “give potential illegal immigrants thinking of leaving their home country — and those already on the way — a realistic picture of what will happen to them on their journey or if they illegally cross into Texas.”
Some of the billboards have stark warnings including, “How much did you pay to have your daughter raped?”; "Many girls who try to migrate to Texas are kidnapped”; and “Your wife and daughter will pay for the trip with their bodies.” Others caution migrants that they will be arrested at the border and jailed.
The campaign will cost approximately $100,000, Abbott said. The messages will be displayed in different languages, and the signs will be installed in several countries across Central America, as well as along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Our goal right now, immediately, is not only to discourage them from coming, but to help them understand the consequences,” Abbott said.
The Texas governor has long clashed with the Biden administration over the influx of migrants into his state. Abbott has resorted to outrageous tactics to make a point about illegal border crossings, including busing migrants from Texas to blue cities across the country — an effort he has vowed to continue even as the number of migrants entering the country at the southern border has dwindled.
As illegal immigration emerged as a major concern among voters in this election year, President Joe Biden instituted harsher immigration policies, sparking backlash from immigration rights advocates. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in its annual report published Thursday that the number of deportations carried out in the past year is higher than any 12-month period since 2014.
Looming over the issue is Trump’s vow to implement the largest mass deportation in the country’s history when he returns to the White House. And a number of Republican state lawmakers, including Abbott, have begun introducing measures to help the president-elect with his zealous deportation plans.