House Republicans are using a fatal truck crash in Florida to smear Democrats’ immigration policy throughout the Southeast.
That includes attacks on Democrats in the region, such as U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, as well as targeted incumbents in states like North Carolina. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) last week sent out email blasts drawing attention to the policies that tied members of Congress to the St. Lucie County car crash involving undocumented immigrant Harjinder Singh, who authorities said made an illegal U-turn, causing the fatal collision.
One email blasted U.S. Rep. Darren Soto and bore the subject line: “Three Floridians are dead. Soto’s radical agenda to blame.”
“Darren Soto’s radical, open-borders agenda prioritizes criminal illegal immigrants over his own constituents,” said NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole.” As long as Soto remains in Congress, Floridians’ safety is in jeopardy.”
Soto, who represents the heavily Hispanic Florida’s 9th Congressional District, is one of the Florida Congressmen targeted this cycle by the NRCC. It’s a familiar spot for the Kissimmee Democrat, who was the only Floridian in the NRCC’s sights last year.
But his campaign dismissed the recent email attacks as a distraction from President Donald Trump’s policies and their impact on Central Florida. Those include some especially salient ones for Hispanic communities like the cancellation of temporary protected status for Cubans, Haitians and Venezuelans.
As for the crash in St. Lucie County, he said it was a confusing issue to make that about immigration, especially when Soto long fought for more resources for Florida law enforcement.
“Rep. Soto condemns all crime regardless of whether it’s committed by an immigrant or not and opposes Trump’s efforts to defund COPS grants that help fund local police,” Soto said. “During his years of service in Congress, Rep. Soto has secured many of these grants to support our local law enforcement agencies and improve public safety.”
Moskowitz declines to speak to the assertions.
House Democrats, for their part, characterized the attacks on members of Congress as misleading at best. They said Republicans have tried to use the South Florida tragedy in parts of the nation far removed from the Sunshine State.
“The NRCC just sends these things out around the county. They blamed the Florida crash on Rep. Frank Moran in Indiana. They have blamed everybody under the sun,” said Madison Andrus, spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“And the legislation they cite has nothing to do with that man or his ability to get that driver’s license he got in California. But it’s their entire M.O. all the time to engage in culture war battles and turn some things into something they are not.”
The NRCC isn’t the only group, of course, drawing attention to the crash involving Singh to draw attention to the illegal immigration agenda.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Miami Republican and former U.S. Senator, paused all visas for commercial truck drivers. Lt. Gov. Jay Collins flew to California to extradite Singh after he left the state for the one that issued his license. Gov. Ron DeSantis railed that Singh “should have never been in the country in the first place.” At the same time, President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security Department issued a statement blasting California Gov. Gavin Newsom for “playing games with the safety of the American public.”
U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, a Stuart Republican who represents the district where the crash occurred, told Fox News the accident showed why Trump’s mass deportation agenda cannot simply focus on “violent criminals.”
“This is just one example of saying this is why it matters if you’re here illegally, you’re going back to your country of origin — whether you’re driving a truck or anything else,” Mast said.
But Democrats brushed off the attack on specific candidates and expressed doubt that voters will react any differently.
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