The Uncle Sam recruiting poster became famous during World War I and II. The figure of the man with long hair and a white beard, wearing a tall hat adorned with a blue ribbon with white stars, and dressed in the colors of the American flag, pointed his finger at the viewer so that no one would feel excluded from the message. “I want you for the United States Army. Enlist now,” the figure said. Today, the most iconic propaganda poster in the United States once again addresses the public to recruit soldiers to fight another war: the one launched by Donald Trump against undocumented immigrants.
The Department of Homeland Security has replicated the Uncle Sam poster, the country’s main symbol, to launch a recruitment campaign for agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This time, the message of the poster, created by James Montgomery Flagg for the first global contest, is “Return to the Mission.” The intended audience is the recently retired Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents that ICE needs to carry out the largest deportation in history, a priority target of the Trump Administration.
“You served the United States of America with distinction and honor. Now, your country calls upon you to serve once again. Due to the disastrous immigration policies of the previous Administration, the men and women of ICE now face unprecedented challenges. Your experience and unwavering commitment are crucial to protecting our communities and enforcing our laws,” the DHS website reads.
For the plan to be successful, the president wants to hire 10,000 new agents to arrest and deport migrants across the country. The Republican’s new tax law, recently passed by Congress, set aside $45 billion for migrant detention centers and $30 billion for more ICE personnel.
The massive injection of funds into the administration’s anti-immigration campaign sparked outrage among civil rights organizations, which denounced how the money Trump’s big and beautiful law cuts from other areas, such as health care and education, will be used to target the migrant community.
“Congress and the Administration will allocate hundreds of billions of dollars to incarcerate, surveil, and criminalize Black, Latino, and Indigenous families seeking protection in the United States. As with other atrocious chapters in this country’s history, the damage will be felt for years to come,” said Azadeh Erfani, policy director of the National Immigrant Justice Center, after Congress passed the law earlier this month. “All of this harm seeks to further enrich the super-rich and private prison corporations, while cementing the racist anti-immigrant narrative that has already terrorized immigrant communities,” he added.
