Writer of “Walking Dead” Torture Song Used to Torment ICE Protesters Demands Feds Stop Playing It

"It struck a personal chord for me.”

Federal officers guard the ICE building in Portland. (Sam Gehrke)

Jim Bianco is not amused by federal agents' use of his song.

Two weeks ago, protesters outside Southwest Portland's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters complained that ICE agents were blasting "children's music" in an attempt to torment them.

Related: Portland ICE Protesters Say Federal Agents Have Been Blasting "Walking Dead" Torture Song at Them for 10 Hours

The tune, which was allegedly blasted for over 10 hours, was Bianco's "Easy Street." It's a chipper pop song which was made popular for its use as musical torture in a 2016 episode of The Walking Dead, a zombie-pocalypse TV drama.

The Occupy ICE camp was formally swept by the city on July 25. But Bianco wants assurance the government won't play his song again. He says he plans to send a cease and desist to the federal government "to demand that they immediately and permanently cease using his song in this matter."

Related: Portland Police Sweep Out Occupy ICE Camp After Alt-Right Goons Show Up to Taunt the Few Remaining Protesters

"I am appalled by the use of this song," Bianco tells WW.

"It was strange enough to watch my song being used to torture fictitious characters in a TV show," Bianco says. "But as the real-life reenactment unfolded in Portland, it struck a personal chord for me."

It's a busy day for cease and desist letters related to Occupy ICE PDX. As WW first reported this morning, the union for ICE agents sent a cease and desist letter to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, saying the mayor violated the U.S. Constitution by preventing police officers from responding to 911 calls from the feds.

Related: Portland police refused to respond when ICE agents called 911, letter says.

A spokesman for Federal Protective Services did not immediately respond to WW's request for comment.

A release sent by spokespeople for the musician today notes that Bianco has been active in helping reunite immigrant families in Los Angeles. Most recently, he joined Guatemalan asylum seeker Hermelindo Che Coc in court hearings asking for postponed deportation until Che Coc was reunited with his six-year-old son.

Bianco hopes the cease and desist will "serve as a reference point for the flagrant abuse of our citizens' basic rights by the current administration."

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