Kentucky police are investigating after a series of racist Ku Klux Klan flyers telling immigrants to “leave now” were distributed across the state on inauguration day.
The KKK is one of the most infamous white supremacist hate groups in the US.
The flyers show a cartoon of Uncle Sam kicking at a family of five, including a baby and two young children. Uncle Sam is holding a document which says “Proclamation” and states: “We need your help. Monitor and track all immigrants. Report them all.”
The documents, which include a Kentucky-area phone number and an invitation to “join us”, were distributed on the day Donald Trump took office. The president has repeatedly demonized immigrants and has vowed to launch “the largest deportation program in American history”.
“We are aware and have already taken one report for this disturbing and disgusting KKK propaganda that is being passed around our community. This hateful garbage has been turning up in other cities as well,” the police department in Ludlow, Kentucky, said in a statement on Facebook.
“We do not support or condone this type of behavior and if you feel that you are being harassed or threatened DO NOT HESITATE in calling and filing a police report.”
Flyers were also found in Fort Wright, Kentucky, which like Ludlow is in the north of the state. Local authorities said they were investigating with the aim of seeking criminal charges.
“This type of hateful garbage is loathsome and deplorable, does not represent the Fort Wright community or the values of our businesses and residents, will not be tolerated in the city of Fort Wright and should not be tolerated by our society as a whole,” the Fort Wright mayor, Dave Hatter, said in a statement.
The phone number listed on the flyers did not appear to be in service on Wednesday morning. Similar flyers were distributed in neighborhoods in Indiana in November.
Jon McClain, the chief of police in Bellevue, Kentucky, told the Washington Post that a local resident had found one of the flyers on Monday.
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“I’ve never seen anything like this,” McClain said. “It was kind of alarming for our community.”
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” McClain said of the flyers being distributed on inauguration day.