{"id":85548,"date":"2025-12-08T00:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T00:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/85548\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T00:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T00:01:09","slug":"long-beach-transit-apologizes-for-ice-recruitment-ad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/85548\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Transit apologizes for ICE recruitment ad"},"content":{"rendered":"

immigration<\/a><\/p>\n

The same day it was called out by community members, the agency announced the ad was removed from its buses.<\/p>\n


\n \"Brandon
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\"Long
\n An ICE recruitment ad displayed on a Long Beach Transit bus Saturday, Dec. 6. Courtesy of @hollyywouldd<\/p>\n

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Hours after being called out by community members, Long Beach Transit apologized for running an Immigration and Customs Enforcement recruitment ad inside its buses.<\/p>\n

On Saturday afternoon, high-profile Instagram account Stop ICE<\/a> (@stopicenet<\/a>), which tracks and highlights ICE activities in Long Beach and throughout the region, posted an image of the advertisement, which showed a federal agent with the slogan \u201cdefend the homeland, join ICE today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want a bus boycott? Because this is how you get a bus boycott,\u201d the account wrote. \u201cTurn these ads off.\u201d<\/p>\n

About five hours later, LBT posted a statement on social media apologizing for the ad, stating it was immediately removed after the agency was \u201cmade aware\u201d that it was displayed in its buses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work with advertising partners for interior and exterior advertisements. This was purchased as a government hiring advertisement,\u201d LBT explained. \u201cWe acknowledge the uncertainty and fear this may have caused. LBT understands that it can be very traumatic to our customers and community, and do not take this incident lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a reflection of our values and we will update our advertising policies to ensure this never happens again,\u201d the agency continued.<\/p>\n

While some commenters thanked the agency for the quick response and swift action, many were not satisfied with the apology, saying the ad never should have made it to buses in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community expects you to prioritize responsible vetting with your \u2018advertising partners,\u2019 especially in a\u00a0time like this when [the Department of Homeland Security] is plastering these ridiculous ads everywhere and terrorizing our communities,\u201d Stop ICE wrote under the apology.<\/p>\n

The incident comes after months of federal immigration enforcement activity in Long Beach and throughout the Southland. In Long Beach alone, dozens of people have been swept up in raids by masked men in unmarked vehicles.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf8<\/p>\n

Brandon Richardson is an editor, photographer and reporter for the Watchdog. If this work is important to you, please thank him.<\/p>\n

Last month, Mayor Rex Richardson testified during a Congressional hearing<\/a> before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. During his testimony, Richardson noted that more than 50 people, most without a criminal record, have been taken during federal operations in Long Beach.<\/p>\n

The majority of people taken by agents were at work, mostly car wash employees<\/a>. Critics, including Richardson, note that agents are racially profiling people based on the color of their skin, where they work and\/or how they speak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is happening in my city is not immigration enforcement,\u201d Richardson said, asking Congress to reign in the Trump administration. \u201cIt is state-sponsored intimidation, targeting families, workers, entire neighborhoods through discriminatory profiling, unconstitutional stops and acts of violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not public safety,\u201d Richardson continued. \u201cThis is racial profiling, this is abuse of power, it\u2019s trauma funded by federal tax dollars and carried out right here on American soil.\u201d<\/p>\n

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