The U.S has been running a 'threatening' ad campaign against migrants in Mexico
After public outcry Sheinbaum asks programmers to remove the spots, announces a proposal to make them illegal
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Monday that she will propose to Congress an initiative to prohibit the broadcasting of foreign advertising in national territory.
The announcement comes after controversy over anti-immigration advertisements broadcast on Mexican national television — which is considered a public good.
In recent weeks, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, has aired a number of spots amidst popular shows and sporting events in which she tells potential migrants that if they come to the U.S. they will be “hunted” down and deported. While the proposal is drafted and winds its way through Congress, Sheinbaum asked radio and television to stop broadcasting the anti-migration commercials, which they have called discriminatory.
Noem's spot has been airing for several weeks in Mexico but garnered public outrage after it aired during Mexican league soccer matches. Noem’s spots threatening would-be migrants are part of a multi-million dollar national international advertising campaign, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“Let me convey a message from President Trump to the world,” says Noem in the spots. “If you are considering coming to the United States illegally…we will hunt you down. Criminals are not welcome.” The video shows migrants being arrested and detained by security forces, as well as subjects, presumably migrants, as well as imagery of men exchanging drugs, presumably falsely suggesting that migrants are criminals.
Sheinbaum, in public statements, said the U.S. propaganda video contains “very high discriminatory content.” The National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred), a government body, also condemned the video.
Conapred sent the broadcasters a letter stating, “the spot contains a discriminatory message that goes against human dignity that could encourage…violence towards people in a situation of mobility.”
The decision by Sheinbaum is somewhat at odds with her migration policy. Mexico has considerably stepped up anti-migration efforts in the country in recent years, first under the former administration of Joe Biden, and now under Trump.
Mexico detained record numbers of migrants in 2024, using checkpoints, random searches of vehicles, and breaking up caravans, sometimes violently, in the south of the country.
Human Rights Watch has condemned arbitrary detention, extortion, and even sexual assault of migrants by Mexican security forces.
From January to August 2024, migration authorities intercepted more than 950,000 undocumented migrants in the country, 132% more than in the same period the previous year.
Sheinbaum has also agreed to accept third-country deportees from the U.S. who are removed as part of Trump’s massive deportation policies.
