Seems like all the rich people who can actually afford to go to the Super Bowl aren’t happy about some new pro-ICE billboards popping up around the city ahead of this weekend’s game.
Super Bowl LX is set to kick off on Sunday, February 8 in Santa Clara, California, a matchup between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. But somehow, much of the conversation leading up to the game this year has been about…illegal immigration.
Of course a lot of that was sparked by the NFL’s selection of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny to headline the halftime show.
Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has been an outspoken critic of President Trump and his immigration policy, even announcing last year that he wouldn’t bring his tour to the United States due to ongoing ICE raids.
While there had been speculation that ICE would target the Super Bowl for immigration enforcement, the White House last year dismissed those rumors, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying that there was no plan for specific action at the big game:
“As far as ICE being at the Super Bowl, as far as I’m aware there’s no tangible plan for that in store right now. However, of course this administration is always going to arrest and deport illegal immigrants when we find them if they are criminals. We’re going to do the right thing by our country.”
And a memo obtained by The Washington Post from the Bay Area’s host committee said that the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that they’re not targeting the game:
“Public safety is our top priority for Super Bowl LX. We have been in daily contact with the NFL, which has confirmed the following with the Department of Homeland Security: There are no planned ICE immigration enforcement operations associated with SBLX.”
That doesn’t mean their presence isn’t still looming large over the event though: Recently, several pro-ICE billboards have popped up throughout the San Francisco area that have apparently upset visitors coming into the area for the game.
A digital billboard reading “Defensive Player of the Year: ICE” has been spotted at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, along with billboards that say “Cheering because the home team finally started investing in defense,” as well as another one reading, “They can’t win without defense. Neither can America.”
The billboards were paid for by a group that calls itself American Sovereignty, which according to Fox News is a conservative nonprofit focused on border security and safety.
The group’s website contains little information, but in their mission statement American Sovereignty says:
“We are committed to securing our borders and making communities safe in order to protect American values. We believe a sovereign nation must know and control who enters, enforce the law fairly, and only welcome those who follow the rules.
Our mission is to strengthen border security, end trafficking and cartel exploitation, and close loopholes that reward unlawful entry.
We will work with law enforcement, community leaders, and policymakers to put America First—protecting taxpayers, defending public safety, and safeguarding national security.”
But apparently the affluent crowd in San Francisco for the big game isn’t happy that they have to look at the billboards ahead of the Super Bowl.
In a report from ABC7 News, one visitor from Chicago says the ads made her “sick to her stomach.”
“It made me sick to my stomach. It puts fear in me- that it’s desensitizing people to think that it’s OK to be people hurting people.”
And another “community organizer” accuses ICE of hijacking the Super Bowl, despite the fact that the host committee has confirmed that there aren’t any ongoing enforcement operations surrounding the game:
“They’ve taken an event, a sporting event, a premier sporting event in the world and are trying to use it as a Trojan Horse to have ICE stagings for enforcement. We won’t’ allow for it to happen. We are going to make sure our community is safe.”
Seems like getting criminals out is a big part of making sure your community is safe, but what do I know.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about the possibility of ICE operations at the Super Bowl yesterday, and highlighted the league’s cooperation with law enforcement at all levels:
“Security is obviously one of the things we focus on the most. It’s a SEAR [Special Event Assessment Rating] 1 level event that involves unique assets at the federal level, state level, and the local level all working together.
I see no change in that in the preparations for the Super Bowl. We have not seen that. We’re working with all three of those levels, and doing everything we can to make sure it’s a safe environment. And the federal government is a big part of that, including this administration and every other administration before that.
I think SEAR 1 has probably been the category we’ve had since at least the turn of the century, if not before that. So I just anticipate we’ll continue to do the work to make it the safest of that.”
Apparently it’s not ICE that the NFL needs to worry about, it’s those scary pro-ICE billboards that are making people nervous as they arrive for the game.
@abc7newsbayarea With the big game just days away, a new digital billboard that shows support for ICE in San Francisco is evoking mixed reactions. “It made me sick to my stomach,” said Karen Guerrero of Chicago. “”It puts fear in me- that it’s desensitizing people to think that it’s OK to be people hurting people.” #superbowl #ice #billboard #sanfrancisco #abc7news ♬ original sound – ABC7 News
