Clinton Super PAC Attacks Jeb Bush Over ‘Anchor Babies’

Wall Street Journal

By Rebecca Ballhaus

August 27, 2015

Clinton Super PAC Attacks Jeb Bush Over ‘Anchor Babies’ 

The primary super PAC backing Democrat Hillary Clinton released an ad on Thursday criticizing Republican presidential candidates’ stances on immigration policy and highlighting controversial remarks the field’s frontrunners have made in recent weeks.

The Priorities USA ad attacks GOP candidates on immigration remarks. Priorities USA ad

The 30-second ad, which is subtitled in Spanish, features former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush saying he doesn’t regret using the term “anchor babies,” a phrase that refers to babies of non-citizens who receive citizenship because they are born in the U.S. Democrats and immigration advocates have criticized the term as offensive. The ad also shows frontrunner Donald Trump referring to Mexicans as “rapists”—a remark that prompted several entities, including Univision and Macy’s, to cut ties with the real-estate mogul—and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker appearing to back repealing birthright citizenship. (Mr. Walker’s spokesman has since clarified that he supports addressing the “root problems” of the immigration system, which would in turn “end the birthright citizenship problem.”)

“This is the Republican Party,” the ad concludes, in both Spanish and English. “Pass it on.”

A spokesman for Priorities USA Action, the pro-Clinton super PAC, said the ad will run digitally for at least a week in Colorado, Nevada and Florida and said the ad buy was “significant,” though he declined to provide a number.

“The sad reality is that Donald Trump is setting the tone for Republicans this election cycle, and whoever survives the GOP primary is going to be damaged by it,” said Anne Caprara, executive director of the super PAC. “Priorities will make sure that the American public doesn’t forget what the eventual Republican nominee said way back in the ugly summer of Trump.” An adviser to the super PAC said similar ads will be a hefty component of its anti-GOP attacks later in the campaign.

Some Republican operatives have voiced concern that Mr. Trump’s aggressive stance on immigration—he has called for deporting the millions of immigrant living in the U.S. illegally, in addition to repealing birthright citizenship—will cause more problems for the GOP with Hispanic voters, a demographic where the party has been seeking to boost its appeal ahead of the 2016 election. Pollsters have said the Republican presidential nominee will need to greatly expand the share of the Hispanic vote that Mitt Romney won in 2012 in order to win the general election. A poll taken earlier this month found that 75% of Hispanic adults had a negative view of Mr. Trump.

In recent weeks, some other Republicans have appeared to follow Mr. Trump’s lead. Mr. Walker has embraced the frontrunner’s position on immigration, in a clear shift to the right. Mr. Trump himself mocked Mr. Bush for using the term “anchor babies.”

In 2013, the Hispanic Leadership Network, where Mr. Bush was co-chairman at the time, authored a memo advising candidates not to use the phrase “anchor babies.” Bush aides have since said he was not involved in the drafting of the memo.

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com