PETA’s ‘Deport Undesirables’ Billboard Is Now Up in Laredo

Donald Trump Jr. Stars in Group’s ‘Deport Now!’ Border Ad

For Immediate Release:
May 9, 2018

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

PETA has placed a giant billboard in the border town of Laredo showing a grinning Donald Trump Jr. posing with a knife and the hacked-off tail of an elephant he shot alongside the words, in Spanish, “Deport Callous, Cheating Opportunists Now! All Nations Have Their Undesirables. Kindness Welcome.” The billboard—which is located on Texas Loop 20 Frontage Road between Maria Luisa and Dorel drives, facing south—comes as the first National Guard troops arrive in Laredo after President Trump ordered their deployment to the U.S.–Mexico border last month in an effort to keep out asylum-seekers.

“While the U.S. is closing its borders to people fleeing violence, violent trophy hunters like Donald Trump Jr. are traveling to other countries on a whim to kill magnificent wild animals and cut off their body parts for photos,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s ad is a reminder that both kind and cruel people exist in every country and that blood-spilling undesirables can be found across all borders.”

Hunters kill millions of animals every year and have contributed to the extinction of species all over the world, including the Tasmanian tiger and the great auk. Unlike natural predators, who kill primarily sick and weak individuals, trophy hunters specifically seek out large, healthy animals who are needed to keep populations strong. Numerous animals are injured but not killed by hunters, escaping only to die slowly and painfully from blood loss and starvation. Cecil the lion, for example, was shot with a steel arrow and left to suffer for approximately 10 to 12 hours before he was finally killed by an American dentist. Trump Jr. has a history of self-aggrandizement at the expense of wildlife in the U.S. and abroad.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—is known for its position against gun violence. For the last month, the group has displayed a banner outside its D.C. office calling for a ban on assault weapons, in solidarity with the Parkland, Florida, students. Its other provocative anti-hunting campaigns have included sending Huntsman Condoms to hunters around the world, including Trump Jr. and his brother Eric, to encourage them to stop reproducing.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.