By Daniela L. Ginsburg
Boston University News Service
30-second U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ads and billboards have reached Boston.
Recently, a billboard featuring Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was spotted at an electric vehicle charging station in a Shoppers World parking lot in Framingham, Massachusetts.
The billboard ad is part of a recruitment campaign initiated by ICE, featuring the taglines “Defend the Homeland” and “Join ICE Today”. This raised concerns within the community, with many sending complaints to the market.
The ads, which began running in mid-September, have spread nationwide, featuring city skylines with the tagline “Attention [city name] Law Enforcement,” followed by clips of agents arresting people.
In the ads, a narrator states, “You took an oath to protect and serve, to keep your family, your city, safe… Join the mission to protect America.”
The recruitment campaign is funded by the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” providing $65 billion to the agency for the next four years. According to Politifact, this results in ICE becoming the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency compared with the FBI and DEA’s existing budgets.
This year, nearly $30 billion will go towards the initiative to hire 10,000 more deportation officers, and the remaining budget will go towards increasing detention capacity from 41,000 beds to at least 100,000 beds, according to AP News.
Nearly 90 percent of detainees are held in facilities run by for-profit, private companies, including CoreCivic and GEO Group, both of which supported Trump’s election campaign and reap financial benefits from these centers.
In 2025, with revenue from ICE, both companies saw an increase in overall financial growth in the second quarter. CoreCivic reported a total revenue of $538.2 million and a 9.8% increase, while GEO Group reported a total of $636.2 million and a 5% increase from the second quarter of 2024.
Both companies have seen their stocks rise and are in the process of expanding their businesses to meet the administration’s needs for detentions.
A Department of Homeland Security press release shared on July 29 reveals that ICE is offering a package of benefits, including a $50,000 signing bonus, student loan repayment and forgiveness options, 25% availability pay for HSI special agents, enhanced retirement benefits and overtime.
According to WBUR News, $5.7 million has been spent on ICE recruitment ads in at least 16 cities across the United States.
The agency has expanded towards college campuses, job fairs and law enforcement networks. Many online users have reported seeing and hearing ICE ads on streaming services such as Pandora, Spotify and Max.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, when asked to comment on ICE ads in Boston, told The Boston Globe that she hasn’t seen the ads. She added that she is focused on “making sure we do public safety the right way, and that we are building trust with our communities.”
On Saturday, Boston communities peacefully mobilized with seven million people in all 50 states in the “No Kings Protests,” where they expressed their outrage with multiple Trump Administration policies, including the immigration raids, deployment of national guards and the One Big Beautiful Bill.
