We Challenge McCain and Obama to Rein In Party Rhetoric on Immigration
July 11th, 2008
By Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO
Today I challenged Senators Barack Obama and John McCain to rein in offensive and charged rhetoric on immigration in their respective parties' congressional campaigns this fall. I presented this challenge just days before they are both scheduled to address our 2008 NCLR Annual Conference in San Diego.
Senators McCain and Obama have both been leaders in the immigration reform effort and have urged a thoughtful and well-informed debate on this difficult issue, but others in their respective political parties are using inaccurate and inflammatory language to inspire fear and resentment against immigrants for the sake of advancing their political campaigns.
As basis for the challenge, I point to campaign brochures and television advertisements by both parties, including a Democratic Campaign Committee leaflet and a blog posting on the website of North Carolina Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole. The materials that we at NCLR found offensive include:
- A charged leaflet by the Missouri State Democratic Committee, which shows a yellow traffic sign depicting a running family; the leaflet attacks Representative Sam Graves (R-MO), charging him with allowing five million "illegal immigrants" into the country.
- A Republican television commercial by Senator Harri Anne Smith from Alabama's Second Congressional District, which condemns languages other than English and shows brown hands in handcuffs and shadowy images crossing into the United States.
- A personal blog posting from the website of Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), which cites the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) as a source of information on the impact of immigration in North Carolina; FAIR has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group with ties to eugenics and white supremacy.
Why issue this challenge? Hate has hijacked the immigration debate with the growing influence of hate groups and hate speech on television and radio and in political campaigns as documented on our website. What passes for debate on this issue is often little more than a demagogic attack designed to inflame Americans rather than enlighten them. Our political leaders can stop it. They should stop it.
The inflamed rhetoric has serious consequences for the Hispanic community. Our website cites statistics showing a steep rise in the number of hate groups targeting Latinos as well as a spike in hate crimes committed against Latinos. In addition, a study published by the Pew Hispanic Center states that nearly two-thirds of Latinos say that the atmosphere for their community has become more negative as a result of the immigration debate and one-half say that they have personally experienced discrimination as a result. Words have consequences and hateful words have hateful consequences.
As the leaders of their respective parties, today we challenge Senators Obama and McCain not to look the other way while others stoop to demagoguery. I urge them in the strongest possible terms to confront inflammatory anti-immigrant language and images when members of their party seek to use them as campaign tactics. I ask them to lead the country in elevating the tone in this badly needed policy debate.
We at NCLR welcome a thoughtful debate on immigration. It is a complex problem and one we can solve. But we can't have a civil debate as long as hate has the microphone.