Billboard in Times Square slams Trump for migrant deaths and border wall

United We Dream, a youth-led immigrant rights organisation, scourged President Donald Trump in a fierce billboard featured in Times Square, blaming him for the series of recent migrant deaths and criticising him for his quest to build a border wall.

The billboard does not mince words, declaring: “No More Money for ICE and CBP.”

The billboard, which will stay up until the end of January, is located among other flashing light in New York City’s iconic and tourist-laden Times Square area on 43rd Street in the Theatre District. On Times Square’s most typical busy day, roughly about 425,000 pedestrians walk through the tourist trap. But during the holidays—primarily New Year’s Eve— that number rises even higher.

The ad also includes a slide show of the faces of female migrants—many are children—whom were either detained by or died under under US immigration enforcement custody: Roxsana Hernández, Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin, Claudia Patricia Gómez González and Rosa Maria Hernández. It also mentioned Mr Trump’s demand for $5bn to build a wall on the US-Mexico border.

Sanaa Abrar, United We Dream advocacy director, said that the billboard was meant to shine light on the lives impacted by Mr Trump’s immigration policies.

“We created this ad with the intention of showing people that Trump’s demands aren’t only about a wall, they’re about people’s lives,” said Sanaa Abrar, United We Dream advocacy director, in a statement. “Giving the deportation agencies of ICE and CBP more money will mean more people detained, more families separated and more deaths.”

Three of the migrants featured on the billboard died under US immigration custody.

Roxsana Hernández, a 33-year-old transwoman from Honduras, died while hospitalised for cardiac arrest in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was under US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody (ICE) at the time of her death. An independent autopsy six months later found that Ms Hernández suffered from “physical abuse” before her death.

In May, 19-year-old Claudia Patricia Gómez González was shot and killed by a US Border Patrol agent near the Mexican border in Rio Brave, Texas. In response, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released two conflicting statements on her death. Its statement originally claimed that Ms González was a part of a migrant group that began hitting a Border Patrol agent with a “blunt object,” before firing one shot and killing Ms González. The statement was later updated to say that Ms González was in a migrant group that the Border Patrol agent, a 15 year veteran, suspected them of crossing into the border illegally and ordered them “to get on the ground.”

The statement then added: “According to the agent, the group ignored his verbal commands and instead rushed him. The agent discharged one round from his service-issued firearm, striking one member of the group.”

Then there’s Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin, a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl who died while in hospital in El Paso, Texas, while she was under CBP custody. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the child died from “sepsis shock,” and then later blamed her death on her family. Although autopsy results have not been released yet, records show that she was delayed medical treatment for several hours despite showing clear signs of exhaustion, dehydration and fever. CBP has received major backlash for waiting five days to acknowledge her death.

The last migrant shown on the billboard is Rosa Maria Hernández, 10, who was booked in deportation proceedings in October 2017 right after undergoing surgery. Ms Hernández, who has cerebral palsy, and has been living in the US since she was about 3 months old. She was released in November 2017.

Both United We Dream and the American Civil Liberties Union said that young children, who could be citizens if Congress passed the Dream Act,” are oftentimes “targeted for deportation.”