Fake fliers purporting to be distributed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and warning against any aid to illegal immigrants were found on cars and lampposts across Washington, D.C. Thursday morning, prompting concern by residents and ire from officials.
The fliers, which a spokeswoman for the agency called “dangerous and irresponsible,” suggest that D.C. residents should report anyone who entered the country illegally and that the city’s sanctuary policy violates federal law.
Milan Vaishnav, a resident of the Burleith neighborhood in Northwest D.C., said he found the flier on the windshield of his car Thursday morning, when he and his wife went out to take their kids to school around 7:30 a.m.
Vaishnav, 37, who works at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the flier looked official at first glance, but he noticed a grammatical error that led him to believe it might be fake. He said dozens of the fliers had been placed on cars in the vicinity of 37th and T streets Northwest and some surrounding blocks.
“It was rather unsettling to sort of see this letter with such stark language warning that if you know anything or [are] in contact with illegal aliens you are in the violation of law,” Vaishnav said.
