Billionaire Tom Steyer’s Need to Impeach organization launched a nationwide TV ad Thursday that plays ProPublica’s audio of immigrant children in a detention facility after being separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The 30-second ad buy, which will air on English and Spanish-language networks, starts with the sounds of children crying and a caption that reads, “What it sounds like in Trump’s Child Internment Camps.”
Then Steyer comes in. “Terrible things happen when you leave a lawless president in power,” Steyer says as the viral photo of a crying two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker flashes on the screen.
Though the ad doesn’t directly call for impeachment, which Steyer is focusing on this election cycle, the hedge fund manager turned climate activist urges people to call Congress. Steyer has clashed with establishment Democrats over his impeachment push, but has refused to let up, challenging Democrats to confront Trump.
“Donald Trump is unfit for his office,” Steyer says in the ad. “Call congress now. If they won’t stand up to him, they’re just as responsible as he is.”
Steyer’s group partnered with Latino Victory Fund for the seven-figure ad buy. It will air during the World Cup on Saturday and on digital platforms.
“Congressional Republicans aren’t off the hook after President Trump’s half-baked executive action,” said Cristóbal J. Alex, president of Latino Victory Fund.
Alex said both progressive groups will “hold accountable those leaders whose silence in the face of children’s suffering should disqualify them from serving the American people.”
Last week, Steyer’s NextGen America group announced an additional $1 million on top of a $2.3 million investment in organizations that provide legal services to immigrant families facing deportation.
“Let me be clear, this president is unfit, this policy is un-American, and Republicans in Congress who silently watched as this tragedy unfolded will pay in the polls come November,” Steyer said in a statement. “It is my duty as an American to do everything in my power to ensure that these children’s cries are heard.”
