Issues: Immigration

Crossroads GPS: “Lovers”

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Crossroads GPS says Virginia Senate candidate Tim Kaine “loves taxes,” accusing him of trying to raise taxes on lower-income Americans and attacking him for supporting the Affordable Care Act even though the health care law provides more middle-class tax relief than burden. But the “tax hikes” GPS accuses Kaine of pushing as governor were a 1 percent surcharge that was part of a package of tough cuts seeking to balance Virginia’s recession-ravaged budget. Meanwhile, Kaine isn’t “considering a new tax on those who can least afford it” – he misspoke while indicating his openness to all discussions on taxation, but does not support taxing lower-income citizens.

Read more after the jump.

NumbersUSA: “October 2012 TV Ad”

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An ad from anti-immigrant group NumbersUSA suggests that lawmakers’ motivation for granting green cards to immigrants is a belief that “black Americans don’t want to work,” basing this on the false premise that immigrants displace jobs that would otherwise be filled by Americans. But there is little truth to this; immigrants expand the economy by increasing demand, thereby creating new jobs and driving up wages for native workers.

Read more after the jump.

Bauer: “Creator” In Declaration Of Independence “Is Not The God Of The Quran”

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From Gary Bauer’s remarks at the 2012 Values Voters Summit on September 14, 2012:

BAUER: The founders put the central idea of our civilization right in the middle of the second paragraph of our Declaration of Independence, where it says, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator–’ Memo to the American Civil Liberties Union and these folks demonstrating outside the hotel, that’s God. ‘–endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ That’s the central idea of who we are. You know for a lot of people on the left, those words are like fingernails on a chalkboard, because, you see, the left is increasingly radically secular. They don’t even believe there’s a God, so how can they accept the words of our Founding Fathers, that that God is the author of our liberty. Ladies and gentlemen, the Creator – the God, the Creator in that paragraph, is not just any god. I say this not meaning to offend anyone, but that is not the God of the Quran. And the reason I feel comfortable saying that is that there’s countries all over the world that have been established on the perception that they are following the teachings of the Quran. And they are not pleasant places to live. They’re not pleasant places to live for women. They’re not pleasant places to live for religious minorities. They’re not pleasant places to live if you want to follow freedom of conscience.

The Week In Conservative Attack Ads

This week, conservative power players descended on Tampa for the Republican National Convention. According to reports, leaders of conservative outside groups spent the week wooing GOP mega-donors, seeking even more cash for their final push to defeat President Obama.

Consequently, it was a slow week for the release of new ads. We fact-checked five conservative ads – four of them targeting separate Senate candidates, along with one unusual spot warning about “mass immigration.” Notably, none of them came from Karl Rove’s Crossroads groups, which sat the week out but made their presence felt in Tampa.

Read more after the jump.

NumbersUSA: “Fall 2012 TV Ad”

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An ad from NumbersUSA, a nativist group that presses for lower legal immigration, uses an inept rap song to suggest that recent college graduates are unable to find jobs because immigrants are taking them. There is virtually no evidence to back this up; immigrants expand the economy by creating additional demand, thereby creating new jobs and driving up wages for native workers.

Read more after the jump.

Conservatives Distort The Record On Immigration Policy

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Conservatives like to accuse President Obama of ignoring immigration laws and failing to present a plan for fixing the immigration system. In fact, the president has a “Blueprint for Immigration Reform” on the White House website and has taken a series of concrete steps on immigration both through executive powers and requests of Congress. There are more Border Patrol agents than at any time in history, and illegal immigration has slumped to the lowest levels in many years (for a variety of reasons). The administration has sought to prioritize criminal aliens over those undocumented immigrants who pose no security threat, while successfully suing to block Arizona’s far-reaching immigration crackdown. And after Congress failed to pass the DREAM Act in 2010, the administration used executive action to aid hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who would have been eligible for legal status had that bill passed.

Conservatives Claim President Obama Refuses To Enforce Immigration Laws And Does Not Have A Plan For Reform

House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith: Obama Has “Ignored Our Immigration Laws” And “Encouraged More Illegal Immigration.” According to the Huffington Post: “‘Throughout the past three years, President Obama and his administration have ignored our immigration laws and have encouraged more illegal immigration by their actions,’ said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas). ‘President Obama has abused his executive branch authority to allow potentially millions of illegal immigrants to live and work in the U.S.’” [Huffington Post, 6/26/12]

Kobach: Obama “Isn’t Serious About Enforcing Our Immigration Laws.” According to Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a co-author of Arizona’s immigration crackdown: “Of course, the president long ago showed that he isn’t serious about enforcing our immigration laws. On taking office, he virtually ended work-site enforcement. That and other actions prompted ICE agents to take an unprecedented vote of ‘no confidence’ in the Obama appointee running the agency. Then, in 2010 and 2011, Obama had his Justice Department sue states (like Arizona) that were trying to help the federal government enforce the law.” [Kobach op-ed, New York Post, 6/21/12]

Read more after the jump.