GOP Attack Ads Linking Gangs, Immigration Rankle Latino Advocates

Republican Ed Gillespie (L) and Democrat Ralph Northam gesture toward one another as they debate on September 19, 2017 for the Virginia governor’s race in Virginia. NBC News

Republican candidates are using images of Hispanic gang members to advance their gubernatorial bids in New Jersey and Virginia, sparking criticism from Democrats and advocates who say the ads demonize Latinos.

The GOP candidates have pushed MS-13 gang crime to the forefront with attack ads accusing their Democratic opponents of holding immigration views that foster crime. Democrats, meanwhile, have blasted the ads as desperate, bigoted attempts at “fear-mongering” in states that combined have more than 1 million Latino voters.

Latino advocates working to turn out voters for the Democratic candidates in the Nov. 7 elections said the ads mimic President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail.
It’s a clear hate attack against the Latino and immigrant community, Gustavo Torres, president of CASA in Action, the political arm of an immigrants advocacy group, said of the Virginia ad. It’s a strategy from Trump that now the Republican candidates are using because they believe that could be a win for them. They would be wrong.
Polls are showing a neck-and-neck race between………

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