Latino and human rights organizations demanded this Wednesday in Miami that Telemundo and Univision stop broadcasting advertising for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) against migrants, and labeled them "hypocrites" for simultaneously promoting a Christmas campaign for family unity.

“Between the soap operas and the soccer game, these ads come on saying, ‘We’re going to hunt them down, we’re going to cage them, and we’re going to deport them,’” lamented Carlos Naranjo, co-director of Semillas Colombia, in front of an ICE facility in Miramar, Broward County, north of Miami.

Naranjo, one of the organizers of the protest, which is part of the “National Week of Action: Turn Off the Hate,” denounced that migrants at the facility spend the night on the floor or are transported in deplorable conditions.

He and the other activists protested against the airing of the ads as part of a national campaign they are carrying out this week in Los Angeles, Orlando, and New York, with demonstrations at network headquarters and immigration offices until next Saturday.

In the messages, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem urges migrants to self-deport in exchange for certain benefits, or warns those who want to enter the country not to even think about it, since "criminals are not welcome in the United States."

They also agreed that broadcasting these messages on television goes against the image of concern that the networks want to convey when covering migrant arrests.

"It's sad and at the same time very hypocritical," said Maria Bilbao, the campaign coordinator in Florida for the American Friends Service Committee.

The activist indicated that she often receives requests from both networks for possible coverage and to find out what is happening with the migrants.

The activists also condemned Univision's Christmas campaign, which highlights that "the best gift is being together," alluding to family unity,This stands in stark contrast to the message conveyed in ICE's advertisements.

“It saddens and pains me to see how the Spanish-language network Univision is commercially exploiting our community,” said Jaime Yanez, a former reporter for both networks.

Yanez emphasized that several of his former colleagues had expressed their disappointment with the network's inconsistency.

Bilbao recalled that she was undocumented for 17 years and never experienced an atmosphere of fear like the “nightmare” being lived now, and maintained that their action is helping Univision and Telemundo “to stop airing these advertisements.”

Some of Noem's messages in the advertisements are false, according to several activists, who asserted that the promises of money or paid return flights are lies.

Telemundo and Univision did not respond to a request for comment made before publication of this article. information.

The 'Week of Action', organized by the Mijente association, comes after more than 5,000 people signed a petition demanding that the networks remove the advertisements for “ignoring the real harm and psychological impact they generate in immigrant households”.