Feinstein’s immigration stance attacked from left
Sen. Dianne Feinstein was fighting for her political life in 1994, facing a tight election that was swinging on the issue of immigration.
Proposition 187, which would cut many public services to those in California illegally, was leading in the polls and her Republican opponent for the U.S. Senate, Michael Huffington, had embraced it. Her own television campaign ad captured a shadowy image, presumably of immigrants streaming across the border from Mexico, and touted her efforts to secure the border. Yet, with weeks to go before Election Day, the Democrat stood strong against Prop. 187.
“I know that this could cost me votes, quite possibly even the election,” Feinstein said at the time. “But I simply do not believe it will work.”
She won, despite the wave of support for the measure.
California is a much different state both politically and demographically 24 years later. And as Feinstein seeks re-election this year, she is facing another immigration challenge, this time from the left.
Her Democratic opponent, state Sen. Kevin de Leon, released a video last week attacking her stance on immigration and making parallels between comments Feinstein made in the 1990s about criminal immigrants and recent anti-immigrant quotes from President Donald Trump, whose crackdown is highly unpopular in California.
The video – released only online – re-creates scenes from de Leon’s childhood, being raised by a single immigrant mother who worked as a housekeeper. It goes on to show U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-calif.) addresses the 2018 California Democrats State Convention on Feb. 24 in San Diego.
how de Leon’s life would have changed had he lived in present-day America and been separated from his mother by officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The video includes two clips of Feinstein, one from 1994, where she says: “The illegal immigrants who come here and commit felonies, that’s not what this nation,” before it cuts off. The second clip, from 1993, begins midsentence, and includes her saying, “I say return them to their own country where that country may be.” The video then cuts to a clip of Trump referring to immigrants as rapists. Soft, dramatic music plays throughout.
Feinstein has emerged as a foe of the president’s, having clashed with the administration on issues including gun control, immigration and women’s rights. But she also faces criticism from more liberal Democrats, who say she should be doing more to fight Trump’s agenda.
De Leon said in an interview Wednesday that he wants Californians to understand that Feinstein’s priority in Congress has not been protecting immigrants.
“You’re the ranking member of the judiciary committee, and you represent the largest state in the nation with the largest number of immigrants – you’re supposed to be the leading voice,” de Leon said.
The video is an attempt by de Leon to spark interest in a campaign that has gotten little attention and in a race where he trails in the polls. A survey released Wednesday by Reuters/ipsos/uva Center for Politics Poll showed Feinstein with a 20-point lead over de Leon.
De Leon has tried to position himself as a leader of the California resistance to Trump in a state that is home to a quarter of the country’s immigrants, including roughly 2.3 million living here without legal residency.
He was a key architect of California’s “sanctuary state” legislation, the most far-reaching of its kind in the country. It limits state and local law enforcement communication with federal immigration authorities, and prevents officers from questioning and holding people on immigration violations.