Two Democrats Lose Anti-Illegal Immigration Endorsements

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, or ALIPAC, rescinded two of its endorsements to Democrats yesterday, claiming their Republican challengers better represent the group’s anti-illegal immigration, pro-enforcement stances. Reps. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) and Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) were two of the six Democrats backed by the group, which mostly endorses Republicans. Both candidates support enforcement-first immigration efforts.

This could be bad news for McIntyre, who referred to his ALIPAC endorsement to claim he is tougher on immigration than his opponent, Ilario Pantano. But some candidates might not want to be endorsed by ALIPAC anyway. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched an attack last week on Republican congressional candidate Jesse Kelly for his ALIPAC endorsement, claiming the group has “known white supremacist, anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi ties.” (ALIPAC leaders say the claim is baseless.)

ALIPAC mostly endorses Republicans, but selected a few Blue Dog Democrats — all incumbents — with pro-enforcement views for endorsements. But the group determined Pantano and Austin Scott, the Republican hoping to win Marshall’s seat, were more likely to vote against Democratic initiatives on immigration.

“We believe that our endorsements are better aligned with Ilario Pantano and Austin Scott against these incumbents who have refused to take action against cities that harbor illegal aliens,” William Gheen, ALIPAC president, said in a press release. “We also want to strongly rebuke the Democratic leadership this year because Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are actively promising amnesty to illegal aliens, while some Democratic campaigns are deploying illegals as election canvassers.”

The group favors crackdowns on so-called “sanctuary cities” that have laws preventing local police from checking people’s immigration status except in certain instances. It also advocates harsher immigration enforcement and opposes a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants already in the country — “amnesty,” in the conservative vernacular.