By Molly Goddard
11:58am PST, Jan 23, 2025
Per photos shared by police departments in the areas of Ludlow and Bellevue, the papers depicted a terrifying image of Uncle Sam kicking a family-of-four while holding a proclamation announcing a "Mass
Deportation."
"Monitor and Track all Immigrants REPORT THEM ALL," the fliers read. The KKK later claimed to have issued the ads along with a phone number to join. According to police, no one called the line attached.
"I've never seen anything like this,"
Jon McClain, the Bellevue Police Chief, explained to
The Washington Post. "It was kind of alarming for our community."
The Mayor of Fort Wright,
Dave Hatter, condemned the hateful actions in a forceful statement. "This type of hateful garbage is loathsome and
deplorable, does not represent the Fort Wright Community or the values of our businesses and residents, will not be tolerated in the City of Fort Wright and should not be tolerated by our society as a whole," he said.
Although the Republican leader denounced the Ku Klux Klan by name in 2017, he's seemingly stoked racial divides by issuing an executive order challenging birthright
citizenship and vowing to go after illegal immigrants during his first days in office.
In a message from the Ohio sector of the Klan group, Trump's return to the White House appeared to be something they were waiting for. "In January, the world's going to change for a lot of people, especially the immigrants in Springfield, Ohio," the haunting statement noted.
Per an officer in Bellevue, on Monday, January 20, a concerned citizen found the flier in the snow. "He was distressed and concerned," McClain revealed. "He said he had some friends who just got their citizenship."
When asked about the timing of the
swearing-in and when the papers were handed out, McClain added, "I don't think it's a coincidence."
During the Republican's inauguration speech, he promised, "We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came."
In a three-page memo by acting Deputy Attorney General
Emil Bove, Trump and his administration clarified what they plan to do to federal prosecutors who
decline to prosecute these immigration cases.
"Federal law prohibits state and local
actors from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests," the noted read.
"The U.S. Attorney's Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution," they added.
