Sessions Calls on Zuckerberg, Rubio to Pull 'False' Immigration Ad

On Monday, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) called on his colleague Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to withdraw an advertisement they collaborated on pushing the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill because it contains false statements.

“Indeed, Mr. Zuckerberg apparently created a front group that’s on the advertisements and it says–they’re called ‘Americans for a Conservative Direction,'” Sessions said on the Senate floor on Monday afternoon. “People, I suppose he’s saying all this on the ad when he’s already said the bill is flawed and he can’t vote for it in its current circumstances. The advertisement ought to be pulled, it seems to me.” 

“So, worse, virtually everything in the ad, especially in the voiceover, not Sen. Rubio’s voice, but the voiceover is false,” Sessions clarified.

The advertising campaign that Zuckerberg created with Rubio’s help under the organization “Americans for a Conservative Direction” is being run through the Facebook founder’s FWD.us group. In the ad, titled “Today,” Rubio claims the Gang of Eight bill “puts in place the toughest enforcement measures in the history of the United States, potentially in the world” and that “no federal benefits, no food stamps, no welfare, no Obamacare” will be afforded to illegal immigrants.

While the argument that the Gang of Eight bill has the toughest border security in history was one of Sen. Rubio’s original talking points as the Gang of Eight rolled out this legislation in late April, he now says he will not vote for the bill if the border security provisions are not improved.

The argument that illegal immigrants will not have access to federal benefits, food stamps or welfare has also fallen apart. In late April, Breitbart News reported that Sen. Sessions had debunked that narrative, finding all the loopholes in the bill that allowed illegal immigrants immediate access to many state and local benefits programs as well as sooner-than-advertised access to federal benefits programs.

Sessions said on the Senate floor on Monday that he believes it is not fair or accurate for Rubio and Zuckerberg to keep running these advertisements when they contain statements that have been proven false. “A conservative should be careful, no matter how sincere, in being part of promoting legislation that we don’t fully understand or will not do what it claims to do,” Sessions said. 

“A commitment to the truth is a conservative value,” he added.

Sessions is not the only one to call on Rubio and Zuckerberg to withdraw the advertisement. NumbersUSA has launched a petition calling on Rubio to do the same. The petition states that signers are “outraged” that Rubio would allow these ads to continue running and that he should pull them because he has an”obligation to come clean and be honest with the American people about the provisions” in the Gang of Eight bill.