As ICE recruits local police, its crackdown in Mass. continues

"Similar ads are playing in markets around the country, as ICE officials oversee a major recruitment campaign. Federal officials are hoping to recruit " patriots" in order to "remove the worst of the worst" from the country. Current data shows that more than 71% of ICE detainees have no criminal convictions. Some advocates say that the ads being used by the federal government are using images and rhetoric that are steeped in white nationalism."

"Ragini Shah, a law professor at Suffolk University who oversees the school's Immigrant Justice Clinic, says she is not surprised by the tenor of the current recruitment pitch, as it is "rhetorically aligned" with how those in the Trump administration have characterized immigrants as "invaders" that need to be summarily cast out of the U.S. "I think they're definitely ramping up as if they're recruiting for a military operation," Shah told Boston.com."

ICE has launched television ads in Massachusetts and other markets aimed at recruiting local law enforcement officers frustrated with sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with immigration enforcement. The ads portray sanctuary cities like Boston as allowing dangerous criminals to walk free and urge officers to uphold oaths to protect and serve. Federal officials frame recruitment as attracting "patriots" to remove the "worst of the worst." Data shows more than 71% of ICE detainees have no criminal convictions. Advocates criticize the ads' imagery and rhetoric as steeped in white nationalism, and a law professor called the pitch rhetorically aligned with portrayals of immigrants as "invaders."

Read at Boston.com