Texas ads warn migrants of rape if they cross the US-Mexico border

Texas is installing ominous billboards warning migrants that they could be kidnapped or raped if they make the journey to cross the US-Mexico border.

The billboards, which began going up this week, are part of a new campaign to deter migrants from entering Texas illegally before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference Thursday. The campaign, he said in a release, is intended to “give potential illegal immigrants thinking about leaving their home country — and those already on their way — a realistic picture of what will happen to them on their journey or if they cross illegally into Texas.”

Some of them billboards has stark warnings, including: “How much did you pay to have your daughter raped?”; “Many Girls Trying to Migrate to Texas Get Kidnapped”; and “Your wife and daughter will pay for the trip with their bodies.” Others warn migrants they will be arrested at the border and jailed.

The campaign will cost about $100,000, Abbott said. The messages will be displayed in different languages ​​and the signs will be installed in several countries across Central America as well as along the US-Mexico border.

“Our goal right now, right away, is not just to deter them from coming, but to help them understand the consequences,” Abbott said.

The Texas governor has long clashed with the Biden administration over the influx of migrants to his state. Abbott has resorted to outrageous tactics to draw attention to illegal border crossings, including buses migrants from Texas to blue towns across the country — an effort he has vowed to continue even as the number of migrants entering the country at the southern border has dwindled in.

As illegal immigration emerged as a major concern among voters this election year, President Joe Biden introduced a tougher immigration policywhich sparked a backlash from immigration rights advocates. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in its annual report released Thursday that number of expulsions in the past year is higher than any 12-month period since 2014.

Looming over the issue is Trump’s promise to carry out the largest mass deportation in the country’s history when he returns to the White House. And a number of Republican state legislators, including Abbotthas begun introduce measures to help the newly elected president with his zealous deportation plans.