The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has run ad after ad in the districts of House Republicans who oppose granting citizenship to undocumented immigrants. Many of them have been in Spanish, in a targeted attempt to encourage Latino constituents of those representatives to make their discontent known. In the latest campaign from the union, a new five-figure ad buy titled "Otra Vez" ("Once Again"), uses Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) as a foil in urging Hispanics in those districts to call up their Republican representatives and find out if they'll choose "extremism or progress". Watch an ad running in the district of California Republican Howard McKeon below.
"It's happened again," says the voiceover in Spanish. "Once again, the debate over immigration reform has degenerated to an even lower level because of the offensive comments and actions of extremist Republican congressmen."
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The ads go on to show Rep. Steve King in his appearance last week on conservative media outlet Newsmax, where he said of young undocumented immigrants brought illegally to the US by their parents, "For every one who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds, and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert."
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Some 82 percent of Hispanics favor an immigration reform plan which includes a path to citizenship, according to a recent NBC poll. And the SEIU, whose membership is about one-quarter Latino, has been pouring money into ad campaigns aimed at House Republicans who they think might be susceptible to pro-reform lobbying efforts: those who have not taken a firm stance either for or against giving legal status and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and whose districts include "significant" numbers of Latinos. The ads have taken a form similar to that of "Otra Vez" - an inflammatory quote from a Republican foil, followed by a call for other Republicans to reject "extremism" in their party and another for Latino constituents to call up their representatives and find out where they stand. Earlier in July, the SEIU spent $200,000 on an ad campaign; in June, the union put down $100,000 on print ads urging conservatives to support an overhaul of the immigration system. This online buy cost it five figures.
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According to the SEIU, the ads will be running in the Congressional districts of Reps. Cory Miller, R-California; Howard McKeon, R-California; Scott Tipton, R-Colorado; Daniel Webster, R-Florida; Joe Heck, R-Nevada; Mark Amodei, R-Nevada; and Randy Weber, R-Florida.
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