The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using taxpayer dollars to erect billboards in Texasoffering help to people whose friends and family are in immigration custody.

A DHS source provided a photo of one of the billboards along a highway in Texas, which read: “Your Brother in Immigration Detention Has Rights. We’re Here to Help .”

The ads are part of a campaign led by the DHS Office of the Immigrant Detention Ombudsman (IDO), an independent office within DHS that helps individuals file complaints regarding a potential violation of immigration detention standards or other staff mistakes. The office also provides oversight of immigration detention centers.

Congress created the office in 2019 and currently, Michelle Brané is the IDO at DHS.

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A billboard along a Texas highway funded by the Department of Homeland Security advertises help for illegal immigrants. (Fox News)

Sources, notably those of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol told Fox News’ Bill Melugin that they were furious about the ads, especially since their agencies are already working with limited funding and resources.

Yet DHS spends money on billboards that, according to the same sources, harm it and are “insulting.”

Fox News contacted DHS last week with questions, including how much taxpayer money was used to pay for the signs, how many signs were paid for, how many were erected and in which states.

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Texas National Guard troops monitor more than 1,000 migrants who crossed the Rio Grande overnight from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, December 18, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)

DHS was also asked about its response to criticism that the signs depict a lax attitude toward illegal immigration message from the agency responsible for enforcing immigration laws.

In response, DHS gave a history lesson about the ombudsman’s office, adding that DHS and its employees provide the highest level of care to people detained in its custody.

No further information was provided on the awareness campaign.

Texas officials took to social media to express their concerns about the signs.

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Illegal immigrants on the South Texas border. (Texas Department of Public Safety)

“The news that DHS is using taxpayer dollars to launch billboards advocating the “rights” of people in immigration custody should be alarming because it is a preview of the legal arguments that the radical progressive Democrats will use to oppose the deportation of the millions dumped into America by Biden-Harris-Mayorkas,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, on X. “Congress should NOT fund. propaganda to undermine our own laws.

He also said that any illegal migrant in the United States, or even any legal immigrant who has broken the law, “can and should be deported.”

“Americans should not PAY for free legal advice to foreign criminals,” Roy added.

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Also speaking was Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who said DHS has placed an open border agenda ahead of its mission to keep American families safe.

“Whether it’s FEMA investing hundreds of millions of dollars in migrant housing or OIDO running ads like this, our government is wasting money on the wrong priorities,” he declared. “It’s time for Congress to end programs like these.”