Angle Defends Her Anti-Illegal Immigration Ads

Sharron Angle, the Republican running against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) for U.S. Senate in Nevada, is in some hot water for remarks she made to a group of Latino teenagers this weekend about her recent anti-illegal immigration ad. In the ad, a picture of three Latino men appears on screen with the words “ILLEGAL ALIENS” while a voice-over discusses Reid’s support for immigration reform measures. The ad has been called “anti-Latino” and “race baiting” by critics, but Angle said she did not see it that way. “I’m not sure that those are Latinos in that commercial,” she said. “What it is, is a fence and there are people coming across that fence. What we know is that our northern border is where the terrorists came through.”

For starters, the commercial does feature Latinos — the picture is of three Mexican men in Mexico. But Angle went further, commenting on the appearance of the students in the room, who were all members of the Hispanic Student Union. “I don’t know that all of you are Latino,” she said. “Some of you look a little more Asian to me.”

Here’s a screenshot of the ad, which is no longer available on YouTube because of a claim by Getty Images. The photographer who took the photo told The Washington Post on Oct. 8 that the image was available on Getty only for editorial work, not for advertisements.

Image has not been found. URL: /wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Angle_ad.jpg

Angle’s argument seems to be that the ad could not be anti-Latino because her campaign did not purposefully pick a picture of Latinos. “Sharron has said several times before that illegal immigration is not about race, it is about the rule of law in this country,” her spokesman told the Los Angeles Times.

Reid, however, has brought up racial issues in arguing against Angle. “I don’t know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican, OK?” Reid told a group of Latino voters in August. “Do I need to say more?”