Republican Senate candidates in Arkansas and New Hampshire are placing television ads blaming the rush of illegal migrants on Democratic support for "amnesty,"
The Wall Street Journal reported.
The GOP attack ads link Democratic Senate incumbents Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire to their party's immigration policies, the Journal said.
Meanwhile, in Maine's gubernatorial race, Democratic candidate Rep. Mike Michaud has been lambasted for backing welfare for illegal immigrants.
Immigration has been an issue in GOP primary battles. Now, Republican candidates, including those running in states far from the border with Mexico, have begun raising the migrant influx in their campaigns. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll showed 64 percent of those surveyed are unhappy with the way the border crisis has been handled, the Journal reported.
While 51 percent of those polled wanted children who entered the country to be returned immediately so as to discourage more from coming, 43 percent would allow them to stay if sending them back endangered their lives, according to the Journal.
Border security is an increasingly important political issue according to a
recent CNN national survey. Developing a plan to halt the flow of illegal immigrants should be the government's immigration focus, say 51 percent of Americans.
Among the GOP senatorial candidates raising the immigration crisis are Scott Brown in New Hampshire and Tom Cotton in Arkansas. A commercial run by Pryor to counter the GOP charge said: "Pryor voted no amnesty. 20,000 agents. A 700-mile fence." That bill, however, provided illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship, the Journal reported.
Shaheen's campaign countered
Brown's ad by saying the senator's support for legislation that would allow some migrants brought to the United States illegally as children to work was also backed by Republicans, including New Hampshire GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte.
Maine's Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who is running for re-election, has criticized Democratic challenger Michaud for refusing to cut welfare payments for illegal migrants, the Journal said.
Michaud said doing so would impact victims of sex trafficking and that local governments do not have the resources to screen welfare applicants for legal status.
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