MERCENARIES: A Video and Poster Campaign to Counter ICE Recruitment

In order to keep Donald Trump’s voter base entertained with spectacles of predatory violence, recruiters are offering bribes of up to $50,000 to seduce gullible individuals into hiring themselves out to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While Trump’s henchmen falsely claim that ICE is targeting “criminals,” the real wrongdoers are those who are willing to do harm to their neighbors in return for a bribe.

In cooperation with subMedia and the Coordinadora Anarquista Tejiendo Libertad, we have prepared a video and poster campaign to counter ICE recruitment. Please help us circulate these everywhere that people are at risk.

There is nothing more despicable and dangerous than a mercenary. When you join ICE, you become a threat to your community and a traitor to humanity. Once people see you with ICE, you’re going to have to wear that mask every day for the rest of your life.

This leaflet covers the basic steps you can take to prevent ICE from terrorizing your community. You can learn more about how to defend against ICE here.

Here is the poster design, suitable for printing and wheatpasting on vertical surfaces everywhere:

MERCENARIES

We are told that dangerous people are loose in our communities. Parasites feeding on our resources. People who are not like us.

But who is dangerous, if not those who will kidnap their neighbors in return for a bribe? If anyone is a parasite, it is the ones who monopolize public resources to profit on violence. If anyone is an outsider, it is the ones who sell their capacity to inflict harm to the highest bidder: the mercenaries who hire themselves out to ICE.

They are not protecting our communities—they are trying to destroy them. By persecuting the vulnerable, they aim to wear down our ability to identify with each other, our ability to feel compassion.

If they succeed, all of us will be in danger. They are also threatening your safety, your freedom. Once they are finished rounding up immigrants, they will need new scapegoats.

Those who know the history of fascism know how this story goes. They begin by locking undocumented children in cages—and end by locking your children in cages.

Together, we can create a world in which no one has to live in fear of mercenaries. No politician or political party will do this for us. It’s up to us.

Resources

• Eight Things You Can Do to Stop ICE
• Seven Steps to Stop ICE
• When the Feds Come to Your City: Standing Up to ICE—A Guide from Chicago Organizers