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The billboard is surrounded by corn on private property just off Old U.S. Highway 50 across from Breese Central Community High School, about 40 miles east of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.

It is an advertisement for the Proud Boys, an organization described by the Anti-Defamation League as "a far-right extremist group with a violent agenda."

The group was at the center of the U.S. Capitol insurrection Jan. 6, 2021, and the billboard, just outside Breese city limits, refers to a comment President Donald Trump made during his first term amid a wave of racially-motivated violence during the summer of 2020.

“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,� Trump said at the time.

More than 100 people packed into a meeting room in Carlyle, the county seat, to complain about the billboard to the Clinton County board.

"We do not want hate or an extremist hate group advertising in our area, and make no mistake, that's what the Proud Boys are," said Bucky Miller, 45, of Aviston.

Carter Bowman, 32, also of Aviston, put it this way: "They have the right to advertise but we have the right to respond. It is our responsibility to do so."

They were among more than 30 speakers who criticized the billboard.

The billboard comes as Trump's second administration has rolled back Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives within the federal government, while alsoÌýincreasing immigration enforcement, as part of a broader effort to deport people in the country illegally.Ìý

The Breese billboard is black and in gold lettering says, "Faith Family Freedom Brotherhood," along with the words "Join Now" in the upper right-hand corner of the sign. At the bottom it lists a telephone number and website.

The billboard was initially above another advertising HSHS St. Joseph's Hospital Breese. "Committed to your health," the advertisement reads, accompanied by a picture of a health care worker.

But on Monday afternoon, the Proud Boys ad was moved from the east side of the billboard to the west side, so it no was no longer above the hospital advertisement.ÌýÌý

The new location put it above an advertisement for a nonprofit adoption organization.

The hospital did not immediately respond to email and voicemail requests for comment late Monday.

However, Maggie Hughes, who works at the hospital, said at the Monday night board meeting that she was "mortified" and disgusted by the billboard.

"The hospital doesn't want to be associated with it," said Hughes, 38, of Nashville, Illinois. She said "this isn't about politics. This is about right and wrong. It's about basic humanity."

Another speaker, Whitney Luebbers, of Carlyle, said she was especially concerned that the billboard was located so close to a high school.

Dr. Deanna DuComb, of Carlyle, called on businesses to refuse to advertise on the sign company's billboards in protest. "I would hope that if compassion (and) kindness doesn't speak, then money will," she said.

Social media posts about the billboard garnered .Ìý

A posting published Sunday there was titled "Terrorist billboard in Breese, IL. Clinton county. (Proud Boys)."Ìý

The Proud Boys was founded in 2016 and rose to prominence the next year as an organization of self-described "Western chauvinists," according to theÌýAnti-Defamation League.

Members wear black and yellow clothing and promote antisemitic, misogynistic, anti-immigrant, Islamophobic and anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies, as well as white supremacist beliefs.

Earlier this year, the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church was awarded the rights to the Proud Boys trademark after the group failed to pay $2.8 million in damages in 2023, after the group vandalized the church’s property in Washington.

Clinton County Board Chairman Brad Knolhoff, who represents the district where the billboard is located, told the Post-Dispatch the phone number on the sign appears to have ties to Metropolis, Illinois, which is about a two-hour drive south from Breese.

When a reporter called the phone number on Monday afternoon, it went straight to voicemail. An automated message said the voicemail box was full.

Knolhoff said a resident approached him about the billboard during the weekend and he started digging into who owns it and who paid to post the billboard.Ìý

Knolhoff said he knows that the billboard structure was built on private property about 20 years ago. Typically, Knolhoff said the landowner enters an agreement with a company, who then builds on their property and handles all the advertising business.Ìý

That company appears to be Louisiana-basedÌýLamar Advertisement, according toÌý of billboard locations.ÌýReached by phone for comment at the company's Collinsville office, an office worker forwarded a reporter to voicemail.Ìý

At the county board meeting Monday night, Knolhoff said the board has no legal authority to take down the billboard.

"The issue, unfortunately, is with the billboard company," he told the crowd. "Applying pressure to them is what will take this billboard down."

Still, in response to several requests from those in the crowd, the all-Republican board voted 13-0 for a resolution stating that the board doesn't support "hatred, bigotry, divisiveness or racism of any kind." The resolution was sponsored by board member Greg Riechman.

Knolhoff said in an interview he hadn't been able to confirm that whoever arranged for the ad has any ties to Clinton County.

"I don’t like to see anything that comes in and attempts to divide our community," Knolhoff said. "We have great people who live here who do great things."

The Associated Press and David Carson of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.