Mobile county Sheriff Paul Burch ICE Halloween display featuring fleeing Mexican skeletons being chased by ICE agents leads to Alabama official being condemned as official’s Cuban wife insists the front yard set up was her idea.
Probably tasteless and racist … but ‘it’s just my right to free speech,’ right?
An Alabama sheriff has been accused of racism and disparaging minorities after the official hoisting a Halloween display set on his front yard depicting an ICE raid, with skeletons donning ‘Mexican’ styled garbs shown attempting to leap over the cop’s fence.
The set-up outside Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch’s home shows three skeletons in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement shirts chasing two skeletons decked out in sombreros and Mexican serapes ponchos as they scramble over a fence, according to photos shared on social media.
Did top law enforcement law official go too far using what many decry as derogatory racist motif?
The display sparked outrage after a neighbor shared photos of the Republican elected officials gated home, in which she criticized him for ‘parading racism in his front yard.’
‘It’s hard to put into words how disappointing it is to see our elected sheriff use his own front yard to mock and dehumanize a group of people,’ neighbor Whitney Newman posted on Facebook Tuesday morning.
‘I don’t think it’s cute or funny. And coming from a law enforcement official makes it exponentially worse,’ she continued, citing a quote from Burch on the law enforcement agency’s Facebook page assuring all residents ‘deserve to live in a safe community, without fear.’
‘This crosses a line from tasteless joke into public statement about who deserves dignity. I just wish our sheriff would practice what he preaches instead of parading racism in his front yard. We deserve better from our leaders.’
Just free speech? Or should a top cop be more mindful of risking offending? Or maybe they’re racist after all?
The ICE-themed decorations come as federal agents nationwide — specifically in Oregon and Illinois — clash with anti-ICE protesters rallying against President Trump’s ‘controversial’ crackdown on illegal immigrants.
The sheriff’s office reportedly declined to comment on Burch’s seasonal decor, instead directing reporters to a statement from his ‘Cuban’ born wife, Michelle, who took full credit for the controversial display. Do you suppose?
‘Every year, I make tongue-in-cheek Halloween decorations with a topical theme at my home,’ Michelle said in the statement, obtained by Fox10 News.
‘I like decorating for Halloween and other holidays and rotate these decorations periodically. My husband has nothing to do with these, other than mowing the grass around them. I made this one, playing both on my Cuban background and new, needed changes in federal immigration enforcement.’
She noted that her parents were legal immigrants and promised to erect a new Halloween display.
‘I’ll make a new one shortly — we have no shortage of topics to cover.’
Which of course raises the awkward question, how did the Mexicans fleeing over a fence motif come to be the ‘go to theme’ of this year’s Halloween display and if there were more palatable ‘display’ ideas that the sheriff and his ‘non-racist’ wife could’ve imagined as other less offensive, divisive alternatives?
