THE Department of Homeland SecurityThe Office of the Immigrant Detention Ombudsman is, first and foremost, reported by Fox News’ Bill Melugin, using taxpayer money for billboards at the southern border that offer free legal services to illegal immigrants facing deportation.

“Your brother in immigration detention has rights, we are here to help,” one billboard reads. Above and below “brother” are other possible relationships that might also need legal help, including “uncle”, “neighbor”, “father”, “friend”, “mother” and non-sexist “partner”.

“Time and time again, we have seen DHS emphasize open borders ahead of its mission to protect American families,” Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-TX) said in a statement. “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. It’s time for Congress to end programs like these.”

OIDO was created by Democratic members of Congress in 2019 to make it more difficult for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol to deport illegal immigrants. In addition to paying lawyers to fight individual deportations, OIDO staff organizes media coverage favorable to illegal immigrants and urges sheriffs in border communities not to cooperate with ICE. It is a radical left, open-border, non-profit organization working within government, funded by taxpayers, with the sole purpose of thwarting DHS’s mission to secure the border.

Former President Donald Trump promised that if re-elected, he would immediately dismantle the agency.

“Kamala is now putting up billboards near the border advertising FREE legal services for criminal illegal aliens,” Trump wrote on X. “When I win, the billboards come down and the migrant gangs go home!”

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Harris made no statement on OIDO and did not respond to questions about it. This is expected to change before Election Day. As California’s attorney general, she asked local sheriffs not to cooperate with ICE, just as OIDA does with sheriffs. Harris should be pressed on whether she thinks sheriffs in border communities and across the country should be encouraged to work with ICE. Most importantly, she should be pushed to say whether she will use the Justice Department and DHS to force local law enforcement to cooperate with federal law enforcement in pursuing all deportations that she said she intended to proceed.

In 2019, the Democratic Party was still moving radically to the left. That’s when Harris promised to use taxpayer dollars to provide free surgeries to transgender criminals and to decriminalize border crossings. In theory, she gave up both positions. However, if she wants to convince undecided voters that she has truly changed and is no longer beholden to radical open-border advocates, then she should join Trump and call for an end to OIDO .