Immigrant advocacy group’s ads seek to increase Hispanic vote

By Karoun Demirjian

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010 | 12:46 p.m.

A national advocacy organization for immigrants is launching a Spanish-language media blitz in Nevada today in an attempt to use a recent stream of anti-illegal immigration ads from Sharron Angle’s campaign as a reason for Hispanics to vote.

“We’re just tired of people demonizing immigrants,” said Lynn Tramonte, deputy director of America’s Voice, which is making the ad buy.

The sixty-second spots – 154 of them – will air on Spanish-language radio from now until Election Day, for an average of almost one per hour between now and the election.

“The Republican Party has no shame,” the ad begins. “Sharron Angle is one of the key defenders of discriminatory measures. She insults our community over and over again with her proposals, comments and ads. And to top it off, now a Republican group is telling us not to vote.”

“Don’t let them fool you,” it continues, “This election day … vote for your family. Vote for your community. Vote on November 2nd.”

Latinos, who came out in record numbers to support Obama in 2008, are largely expected to be a key constituency for Harry Reid. Reid, though a latecomer in his career to the pro-immigration reform camp, has been one of the most vocal champions of immigration reform in the last Congress, attempting to push a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s immigration laws in 2007 and angling for the DREAM Act – a measure that would put undocumented college students and military enlistees on a pathway to citizenship – in Congress’ last session.

Angle has taken an anti-illegals, pro-enforcement position on immigration, which she has hammered home through several recent campaign ads, the most recent airing this week with the following message:

“Waves of illegal aliens streaming across our border joining violent gangs forcing families to live in fear, and what’s Harry Reid doing about it? Voting to give illegal aliens social security benefits, tax break and college tuition, voting against declaring English our national language twice and even siding with Obama and the president of Mexico to block Arizona’s tough new immigration law,” the ad says.

Though voting Latinos are all citizens by definition, immigration policy is a potent cross-cutting issue in the community, with the greater portion of Latinos favoring candidates whose positions on immigration include a platform for legalizing the status of undocumented workers in the United States.

The Spanish-language advertising campaign is targeted specifically at Nevada and Colorado, where incumbent senator Michael Bennet is facing a stiff challenge from Tea Party-backed Republican Ken Buck. Nevada and Colorado both have large Hispanic populations and were considered swing states going to Obama in the 2008 election.