A network of donors that pumped $30 million into President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is poised to spend up to $20 million in the 2014 midterm elections to defeat House members who oppose immigration reform,
The Washington Post reported.
The Latino Victory Project, which has the backing of labor unions and groups associated with billionaire George Soros, says it is prepared to campaign against 10 lawmakers, whose districts include significant Latino populations, and who oppose overhauling laws that could offer a path toward citizenship for individuals who arrived in the country illegally.
Up to $2 million would be spent in each targeted district, first with the aim of persuading the lawmakers to back immigration reform; and if that doesn't work, the goal would switch to defeating them.
Some House members, such as Republican Jeff Denham of Calif., have already modified their positions to inoculate themselves against the threat, the Post reported.
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Cristobal Alex, a former program officer at the Ford Foundation, has been appointed president of the Latino Victory Project. He said the group wanted to "build political power in the Latino community so that the faces of Latinos are reflected not just in every level of government but in the policies that drive the country forward."
The Project joins an existing array of pro-immigrant groups, unions, religious leaders, law enforcement officials, and some in the business community that have been pushing — along with the Obama White House — for immigration reform, the Post reported.
These are the House Republicans who could be affected by the Latino campaign in 2014: Reps. Mike Coffman and Scott Tipton of Colorado; Jeff Denham, Gary Miller, David Valadao and Howard "Buck" McKeon of California; Daniel Webster of Florida; Joseph Heck of Nevada; Steve Pearce of New Mexico; and Randy Weber of Texas.
There were an estimated 11.7 million undocumented immigrants in the United States as of March 2012, with 60 percent in six states: California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas,
according to a Pew Study.
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