Mexico’s Sheinbaum asks TV stations to pull ‘discriminatory’ US anti-immigration ad

In ad, US homeland security chief Kristi Noem warns migrants who commit crimes ‘we will hunt you down’ because ‘criminals are not welcome’

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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum during a press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 1:23am, 22 Apr 2025Updated: 9:19am, 22 Apr 2025

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that her government had asked television stations to pull an advertisement by US President Donald Trump’s administration warning against undocumented migration because it could incite violence.

She said Mexico’s government had written to private television channels urging them to stop showing the message, which has been broadcast during prime-time programmes such as major league football.

Reading the letter at her morning news conference, Sheinbaum said that the ad “contains a discriminatory message that violates human dignity” and could encourage “violence against people on the move”.

The ad is part of a multimillion-dollar international campaign announced by Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in February in radio, broadcast and digital formats in multiple countries.

“If you are considering entering America illegally, don’t even think about it,” Noem warns in the message, which in Mexico has Spanish subtitles.

If a migrant commits a crime, “we will hunt you down” because “criminals are not welcome”, she says.