Immigration Mudslinging in Idaho
AP reports on an interesting immigration story from Idaho, not often thought of as one of the hotbeds of the immigration debate. “The campaign of Rep. Walt Minnick, who represents Idaho’s 1st Congressional District, launched a TV ad Thursday targeting his GOP rival Raul Labrador, who is an immigration attorney. The 30-second spot tells viewers that illegal immigration is good business for Labrador because more than half his legal work is “helping illegal immigrants stay in the United States.” Labrador demanded Minnick yank the ad and called him a hypocrite, pointing out that in the 1990s he worked at the law firm that helped Minnick finalize the adoption of “his foreign born child.” . . . . Minnick and his wife have four children, including a daughter they adopted from China.”
Watch the ad and judge for yourself. It seems to me that the references to “illegal immigrants”, “amnesty”, and “Raul” are efforts to subtly attack Labrador, who campaigns as a conservative, because he is a Latino and born in Puerto Rico.