New Hampshire Republican Senate hopeful Scott Brown is betting on immigration in his closing argument to Granite State voters.
Brown has been making the case to voters across the state that Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has backed legislation that would increase the influx of immigrants and provide a pathway to citizenship for those living here illegally.
State GOP officials Monday night said voting for Brown, the former GOP Massachusetts senator, would help provide enough Republican votes to stop “unilateral amnesty,” which is a GOP term for President Obama’s plan to use executive action to decrease deportations and perhaps allow more immigrants to enter and work in the United States.
Brown has pledged to help pass legislation that would block funding for Obama’s executive actions.
In a statement released Monday night, New Hampshire Republican State Committee Chairman Jennifer Horn included an appeal to “mothers of our state” to consider what Obama’s planned executive action might mean for families, “the impact it would have on our schools, our hospitals, our public health and our kids’ chances of getting that first job or that much-needed raise.”
Immigration reform has been a winning issue for Brown, who is tied with Shaheen in the latest polls.
Shaheen, the former governor, once held a consistent double-digit lead. But Brown began to gain on her after he began running ads against Shaheen for voting in 2013 in favor of the Senate’s bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill. The measure coupled border security measures with a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. It would have increased visas for foreign workers and created a guest worker program to serve the farming industry.
Democrats have pointed out that New Hampshire’s other senator, Republican Kelly Ayotte, also voted in favor of the Senate bill.
Shaheen has argued the Senate bill she backed would secure the nation’s southern border, where thousands of illegal immigrants are able to cross into the United States every year.
