Some hastily put together, pro-ICE electronic billboard ads, paid for by a shady outfit with no known donors, have appeared in San Francisco ahead of the Super Bowl, and maybe in other cities as well.
If there is some contingent of Americans who are still on the fence about the immigration-enforcement/citizen-harassment and killing actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, they are likely still in their cabins in the woods or under a rock, and not visiting San Francisco for Super Bowl Week.
But a group calling themselves American Sovereignty, with no on-the-record spokesperson or disclosed donors, has launched what they say is a multi-million-dollar ad campaign in a questionable effort to bolster public perception of ICE agents. It's a version of crisis PR — and not a particularly good one! — at a moment when public opinion of ICE is reaching new lows. (There are still, disturbingly, 37% of respondents to that poll who say ICE's recent actions are "about right" or "not enough.")
The ads, as KRON4 and others have reported, began appearing in recent days on at least one electronic billboard near Fisherman's Wharf, and include messages — alongside stock imagery — apparently tailored to Super Bowl Week, like "Cheering because the home team finally started investing in defense," and "Defensive Player of the Year: ICE."
Fox News had the "exclusive" news about the ad campaign last week.
There are narrated TV spots as well, one of which has the message, "They're friends and neighbors. Sons, fathers. They’re Little League coaches and veterans. They’re people who love this country."
And there's the one seen below promoting Trump's spurious narrative that only criminals are being targeted by ICE agents. It's unclear if these have appeared on TV anywhere, and that particular video has only gotten 682 views since it was posted three days ago.
As Daily Kos notes, American Sovereignty's official website has no listing of donors, directors, or spokespersons, just an email signup form. And the Fox News story doesn't contain any statement from the group or any direct quote from a person connected to the group. The group claims that the TV spots will be targeting Washington, DC; Michigan; North Carolina; and Georgia.
It could be that this campaign is for San Francisco's sake only, during the Super Bowl, and that it isn't a multi-million-dollar one at all.
The American Sovereignty X account only appears to be a few weeks old, has a mere 189 followers, and the only evidence of the billboards that they've documented are the ones at that one corner near Fisherman's Wharf.
On the American Sovereignty website, the group says, "Our mission is to strengthen border security, end trafficking and cartel exploitation, and close loopholes that reward unlawful entry."
Related: Emeryville Protesters Storm Home Depot and Target to Pressure Them Against Cooperating With ICE
