PETA: Keep Illegals Out of US By Warning Them About U.S. Fast Food
Proposes posting signs on border fence
By Jim Forsyth
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
If People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has it's way, immigrants legal and illegal coming into the U.S. across the Rio Grande, will get a warning: Avoid U.S. fast food.
PETA today offered to buy ads which would be placed on that border fence now being constructed along the Rio Grande in south Texas, 1200 WOAI news reports.
"The ad would read, 'If the Border Patrol doesn't get you, the chicken and burgers will; go vegan'," said PETA marketer Lindsay Rajt, who made the offer to the Department of Homeland Security.
"Of course, we would have that message in English and in Spanish," she said.
A spokesman for the Border Patrol said no signage of any sort will be placed on the border fence, because it would limit officers' ability to see beyond the fence and watch what's happening on the other side. He also said advertising is generally not allowed on taxpayer-funded government projects.
Rajt urged the Border Patrol to reconsider, saying the money PETA would pay for the signs would offset the costs of building the border fence, and she said the messages alone might do the job the fence is intended to do...convince illegals to stay home.
"The greasy chicken and quarter pounders on this side of the border are packed with greasy fat and cholesterol," she said. "We think that's enough to convince anybody to stay at home.