Prohibit DHS from using taxpayer funds to produce, purchase, distribute, or broadcast television advertisements intended to promote ICE, recruit ICE personnel, or enhance ICE’s public image or branding.

Wesley Bell · Missouri · Democratic

policy impact 3.00 specificity 1.00 extraction confidence 98%

Occurrences

introduced the No ICE Ads Act, legislation that would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from obligating or expending funds to produce, purchase, distribute, or broadcast television advertisements intended to promote U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), recruit ICE personnel, or enhance ICE’s public image or branding

Bell announced legislation to stop DHS from spending funds on ICE promotional ads.

Bell Calls to Block ICE from Using Taxpayer Funds on Propaganda Ads | Representative Wesley Bell
primary · press_release · model gpt-5.4-mini

In Congress, he has voted several times to defund ICE, and introduced legislation to stop taxpayer dollars from funding ICE propaganda.

Bell supports blocking taxpayer funding for ICE promotional propaganda.

Wesley Bell on the Issues
primary · campaign_site · model gpt-5.5

Evidence

The June 8, 2026 archive entry says Bell introduced the CDBG-DR Automated Assessment Act, a disaster-recovery bill focused on housing, infrastructure, and economic recovery.

Recent official legislative activity shown on Bell's site is unrelated to the pledge to bar DHS funding for ICE promotional or recruitment ads. No direct ad-ban action is documented here.

unresolved unknown A for effort

Press Releases | Representative Wesley Bell
primary · model gpt-5.4-mini · confidence 71%

The June 4, 2026 archive entry says Bell had made efforts on behalf of constituent Boanerges Flores-Bravo, but ICE deported him to Nicaragua anyway.

Bell did take concrete ICE-related constituent action in the lookback window, but it was casework rather than the promised restriction on DHS advertising funds.

unresolved unknown A for effort

Press Releases | Representative Wesley Bell
primary · model gpt-5.4-mini · confidence 69%

The June 2, 2026 archive entry says Bell visited an ICE detention center in Louisiana, met with a Missouri constituent detained there, and secured a privacy form to help with the immigration case.

This is serious official ICE-related effort, but it does not show Bell advancing the specific promise to prohibit DHS spending on ICE ads or branding.

unresolved unknown A for effort

Press Releases | Representative Wesley Bell
primary · model gpt-5.4-mini · confidence 70%

Public Law 119-21 appropriated $29,850,000,000 to the Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement through September 30, 2029, including for hiring and training ICE personnel and for recruitment, hiring, onboarding, recruitment, and marketing activities.

The enacted federal funding law affirmatively funds ICE recruitment and marketing rather than prohibiting DHS taxpayer spending on ICE promotional or recruitment ads. This is strong evidence the specific promised restriction had not been delivered as of the current federal service period.

unresolved later_term

Public Law 119-21 [H.R. 1]
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 95%

The Clerk recorded H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as passed 218-214 on July 3, 2025. The member vote list shows Bell, Democratic, Missouri, voting No.

Bell opposed the broad bill that later became Public Law 119-21 and funded ICE recruitment and marketing, but that vote did not enact the promised DHS/ICE television-ad funding prohibition.

unresolved later_term A for effort

Roll Call 190 | Bill Number: H. R. 1 | Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 94%

The Washington Post reported that ICE planned a $100 million one-year recruitment media campaign, including targeted ads, influencer spending, streaming-service placements, and TV-adjacent event ads. DHS did not dispute the described campaign and characterized the ICE recruitment campaign as successful.

Reputable reporting indicates DHS/ICE recruitment advertising continued after the relevant funding law, which undercuts any finding that taxpayer-funded ICE recruitment or branding ads had been prohibited.

unresolved later_term

ICE plans $100 million 'wartime recruitment' push targeting gun shows, military fans for hires
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 82%

Bell's official House page says he joined colleagues in introducing articles of impeachment against Secretary Kristi Noem, would continue pushing for transparency and accountability, and had called for ICE to be defunded until misconduct patterns were investigated and addressed.

Bell has taken and endorsed concrete ICE-related oversight and defunding positions, but this official page does not show the specific promised restriction on DHS television advertisements promoting or recruiting for ICE.

unresolved later_term A for effort

Know Your Rights When Approached By ICE | Representative Wesley Bell
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 86%

Bell's press-release archive lists recent official activity including the June 8, 2026 CDBG-DR Automated Assessment Act, a June 4, 2026 statement that ICE deported a constituent despite Bell's efforts, a June 2, 2026 visit to an ICE detention center in Louisiana, and a May 27, 2026 ICE detention-center oversight visit in Missouri.

The official archive documents ICE-related casework and oversight, plus unrelated legislative activity, but no bill, amendment, rider, or enacted provision matching the promised ICE advertising funding ban.

unresolved later_term A for effort

Press Releases | Representative Wesley Bell
primary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 82%

Bell's official Votes and Legislation page directs constituents to Congress.gov records for legislation he sponsored and cosponsored and lists recent votes through June 30, 2026; the visible recent-vote snapshot concerns unrelated measures, not a DHS/ICE advertising-funding prohibition.

The official legislative page provides the path to Bell's legislative record and shows recent activity, but the available snapshot does not establish sponsorship, cosponsorship, passage, or enactment of the specific promised ad-spending ban.

unresolved later_term

Votes and Legislation | Representative Wesley Bell
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 74%

AP reported that Wesley Bell announced on October 30, 2023, that he would drop his 2024 U.S. Senate bid against Josh Hawley and instead run for Missouri's 1st Congressional District against Cori Bush.

This establishes that Bell did not enter the Senate office tied to the campaign context; the relevant federal record for possible action is his later House service, where the specific promise remains unresolved rather than delivered.

unresolved unknown

St. Louis County prosecutor drops U.S. Senate bid, will instead oppose Cori Bush in House race | AP News
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 90%

Assessments

never later_term A for effort

Bell did not enter the Senate office tied to the promise, but his later federal House record can be considered for credit. The evidence shows no enacted bill, amendment, rider, or other provision prohibiting DHS taxpayer funds for ICE promotional, recruitment, branding, or television advertisements. Instead, Public Law 119-21 funded ICE recruitment and marketing activities through September 30, 2029, and reporting indicates ICE recruitment advertising continued. Bell did take ICE-related oversight and opposition actions, including voting against H.R. 1 and calling for ICE accountability/defunding, but those efforts did not deliver the specific advertising funding ban.

provider codex_cli · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 90%

unresolved unknown

Bell is still serving in his current federal term, so this promise should be judged in an ongoing-term context. The available official evidence shows ICE-related oversight, constituent casework, and a public call to defund ICE, but it does not show Bell introducing, sponsoring, or materially advancing the specific promised policy: a prohibition on DHS using taxpayer funds for television advertisements promoting ICE, recruiting ICE personnel, or improving ICE branding. The cited 2026 legislative activity on his House site is unrelated, and there is no evidence here of enactment or of a targeted bill, amendment, or appropriations rider delivering this outcome. Because the term is still active and the record provided does not establish either delivery or a decisive failed end-state, the best judgment is unresolved.

provider codex_cli · model gpt-5.4 · confidence 85%