A digital billboard near San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf is cycling through pro-Immigration and Customs Enforcement messages ahead of Super Bowl LX, drawing sharp criticism from some immigrant advocates as the region prepares for the NFL's biggest weekend.
The billboard has displayed football-themed slogans including "Defensive player of the year: ICE," "Cheering because the home team finally started investing in defense," and "They can't win without defense. Neither can America," the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Fox News also reported that the billboard appeared in the run-up to Super Bowl events and described it as part of a broader push by American Sovereignty, a conservative nonprofit, to promote ICE and border security.
American Sovereignty's website says, "We believe a sovereign nation must know and control who enters, enforce the law fairly, and only welcome those who follow the rules."
Super Bowl LX is scheduled for Sunday at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, according to the NFL's event information page.
Immigrant-rights organizers told the San Francisco Chronicle they viewed the billboard as offensive and were urging city officials to press for its removal, while Bay Area officials said they were not aware of any heightened immigration enforcement tied to the game week.
More broadly, ICE has faced sustained scrutiny beyond recent use-of-force incidents, including criticism over detention conditions and oversight.
A May 2025 Government Accountability Office report said the Department of Homeland Security should define goals and measures for detention facility inspection programs, citing work by the DHS Office of Inspector General that identified 155 deficiencies across 12 detention facility inspection reports published from fiscal 2022 through fiscal 2024.
Advocacy groups have also focused on ICE detention practices such as solitary confinement.
A September 2025 report by Physicians for Human Rights and research partners, drawing on ICE data and records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, said more than 10,500 people were placed in solitary confinement in immigration detention from April 2024 through May 2025.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.