Trump uses tweet about cop killer as campaign issue
Says Dems let immigrant enter U.S.
WASHINGTON — Ahead of the midterm elections, President Donald Trump tweeted a video Wednesday alleging Democrats were responsible for allowing a homicidal immigrant into the U.S., but he provided no evidence supporting that claim.
The video was seen as being reminiscent of the infamous 1988 “Willie Horton” ad used against Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis and condemned as racist.
Mr. Trump highlighted the case of Luis Bracamontes, a twice-deported immigrant from Mexico sentenced to death in California for killing two police officers.
The 53-second spot includes expletives uttered by Bracamontes during his trial as he professed regret at not killing more officials.
The caption reads: “Illegal immigrant, Luis Bracamontes, killed our people!” It adds: “Democrats let him into our country … Democrats let him stay.”
The video includes scenes of migrants moving toward the U.S. and asks ominously, “Who else would Democrats let in?”
Mr. Trump provided no evidence linking Democrats to Bracamontes.
Mr. Trump and his aides have long believed immigration is key to turning out his base, and he has seized on the caravans of Central American migrants slowly making their way through Mexico toward the U.S.
The president has rejected the idea he has been “fearmongering” and using the issue for political purposes.
Still, in the wake of the Bracamontes video, Mr. Trump and Republicans were criticized for “fearmongering,” and the ad has been decried as “racist,” with many likening it to the “Willie Horton” ads supporting George H.W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election. (Horton, who was black, raped a woman while out of prison thanks to a weekend furlough program supported by then-Massachusetts Gov. Dukakis.)
Some Republicans in more moderate territory have broken with Mr. Trump over his renewed focus on immigration. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Florida Republican running for reelection in a district Hillary Clinton won in 2016, criticized the new web ad.
“I can tell you that it’s definitely part of a divide-and-conquer strategy that a lot of politicians, including the president, have used successfully in the past,” Mr. Curbelo told CNN’s “New Day” Thursday morning. “I hope this doesn’t work. I hope that type of strategy starts failing in our country.”
Rep. Ryan Costello, who is not planning to seek reelection for his Pennsylvania seat, told CNN on Thursday that the ad and the overall tone Mr. Trump has struck on immigration “doesn’t make me happy.”
The ad was even criticized by Sen. Jeff Flake, RAriz.
“This is just a new low in campaigning,” Mr. Flake said, according to a tweet from CNN’s Jake Tapper. “It’s sickening.”
The White House and the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comments as to who made or paid for the video or if any tax dollars were used to run it from the president’s account.
A source close to the White House described the web ad as well as Mr. Trump’s immigration push as “changing the argument from family unification to invasion.”
“It’s clearly working. We are all talking about it and not health care,” the source added.
Mr. Trump pinned the Bracamontes video to his Twitter feed, ensuring that it would be the first thing his 55.5 million followers would see, and as of Thursday afternoon, it had 3.42 million views.
The tweet came before Mr. Trump announced on Thursday his plans to deny asylum to migrants who try to enter the U.S. between ports of entry — a legally questionable move that was part of his election-season barrage of actions aimed at caravans heading toward the border.
Also, the president announced on Wednesday that he was considering deploying up to 15,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexican border in response to the still faroff caravans. And he has threatened that those who do enter will be housed in “tent cities” he plans to build while their cases are processed.