Texas' $100K Billboard Campaign Warns Migrants of Rape

Gov. Greg Abbott, who once pledged to "eliminate all rapists" from his state of Texas, is now warning migrants that traffickers could rape and abuse them if they try to make their way to the United States. Per the Washington Post, Abbott is doing so via 40 or so billboards in four different languages—Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and Russian—sprinkled throughout Mexico and Central American nations like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. "How much did you pay to have your daughter raped? Many girls are raped by the coyotes you hire," reads one sign in Spanish. Another warns, "Your wife and daughter will pay for the trip with their bodies."

"These billboards tell the horror stories of human trafficking," Abbott says in a statement. "They implore those people in Central America to consider the violent, horrific realities of what will happen to the women and children they bring with them." He adds that his controversial Operation Lone Star for border control has done "incredible work" to tamp down on illegal immigration, "but this new effort is about stopping their journey from even beginning in the first place." He also warns that the arduous trip to the US could all be for naught. "The message is, 'Do not risk a dangerous trip just to be arrested and deported,'" he says, per the Post.

The Texas Tribune reports that the billboard campaign is estimated to run about $100,000, according to Abbott. The Post notes that Texas is being positioned "to provide a blueprint for the expansive immigration crackdown promised by President-elect Donald Trump." Still, some experts aren't so sure that Abbott's newest initiative with the billboards will put a dent in immigration numbers. The violence migrants may face, for example, "is something they already know," UC Davis sociologist David Kyle tells the Post. Plus, "migrants or asylum-seekers come for reasons that go well beyond any threatening message that one can put on a bulletin board," adds Brad Jones, a poli-sci instructor from the same school. (More Texas stories.)