A group of activists vandalized a California billboard early Thursday to criticize Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amid backlash to the Trump administration’s previous policy separating children from families who illegally cross the southern border.
The blue billboard from a junk company featuring a photo of a surprised child originally read “We make junk disappear,” according to The Mercury News. It was redone to read “We make kids disappear – I.C.E.”
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A group called Indecline, a self-described “activist art collective,” took credit for the vandalized billboard online.
A video posted on social media showcases three sweatshirt-clad and masked individuals climbing up to the billboard and writing the new message.
“Obviously it’s a hot topic right now and something we feel very strongly about,” one activist told The Mercury News.
The activists vandalized the billboard amid widespread outcry over the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.
The policy aimed to aggressively prosecute individuals who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, leading to thousands of migrant children being separated from their parents during criminal proceedings.
The activist told The Mercury News that the policy “extends beyond immigration and into a humanitarian issue.”
President Trump gave into intense bipartisan pressure on Wednesday, signing an executive order to end migrant family separations.
“We’re going to have strong, very strong borders, but we’re going to keep the families together,” Trump said at the signing “I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated.”