New Ad Focuses on Immigration

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Huffington began airing a new statewide television commercial Tuesday that criticizes Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein for claiming in another television ad that she is working hard to stop illegal immigration.

* THE AD: It opens with a picture of a television set showing Feinstein speaking to the camera. A voice then says, “In her immigration ad, Dianne Feinstein comes off like ‘The Terminator.’ But as mayor, Feinstein wasn’t the Terminator to illegal aliens--she was the Welcome Wagon.” The ad then switches to a graphic that includes a purported headline from the San Francisco Chronicle about immigration. A narrator continues: “Feinstein ordered police not to report illegal aliens, making the city a sanctuary, a safe haven--in defiance of federal immigration law. Mike Huffington cast three strong votes for 6,000 more border guards and tougher laws to stop illegal aliens. The Welcome Wagon becomes the Terminator--must be election year.”

* THE ANALYSIS: Feinstein’s campaign hotly denies the ad’s claim that she defied federal law by ordering police not to report illegal aliens. The statement is based on a non-binding resolution that Feinstein signed as mayor of San Francisco in 1985 that said city police and other officials would not initiate the deportation of refugees fleeing a particularly violent period in Guatemala and El Salvador. The resolution was directed only at law-abiding refugees from those two countries. Feinstein aides said the action was taken because refugees were fearful of reporting crimes. Huffington attributed the ad’s claim that Feinstein defied federal law to a 1985 newspaper quote from a federal immigration official who said the resolution advocated law-breaking. The 6,000 new border guards were included in a plan Huffington voted for last April. Both candidates have staked out tough positions on immigration, with Feinstein pointing to a comprehensive package of reforms she introduced recently that also calls for more guards and tougher border enforcement.