Tennessee Democrat Phil Bredesen’s campaign called for illegal immigrants to “get involved” in the U.S. Senate race in a video released last week, but Bredesen refused to answer on Tuesday if he or his campaign solicited support from illegal immigrants.
A video released last week depicted two women talking with former Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen and his communications director Laura Zapata, in which one woman admits to Zapata that she’s an illegal immigrant and therefore cannot vote in the Tennessee Senate election. The other woman then asked Zapata that given that she cannot vote for Bredesen in the Tennessee Senate election, why should they get involved in Bredesen’s campaign?
The woman asked:
Umm, to our community that isn’t able to vote, why do you think they should advocate, when they have that platform, to advocate for your campaign. Why do you think they should advocate even though they’re not eligible to vote to encourage us voters to vote for you guys?
Zapata replied that illegal immigrants should “get involved” because Bredesen is the “right choice” given that Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has anti-illegal immigrant policies.
Bredesen’s communications director admitted:
Why they should get involved? Because I mean you guys said it yourselves, you know, this is the choice right now we have and we can take our country in a certain direction if you choose, umm, Phil Bredesen, or we can go back and choose Marsha Blackburn who has been very clear about what she wants to do with undocumented. . .[Emphasis added]
Earlier in the video the two women, Bredesen, and Zapata discuss a Bredesen campaign ad that uses the term, “illegal immigrant,” in which the two women contend that the phrase “has been used to harm our community for a very long time,” to which Zapata agreed that the word might be offensive.
In reaction to the video, Scott Golden, the Tennessee Republican Party chairman, told Breitbart News in an exclusive statement, “The contrast could not be more clear: Marsha Blackburn stands with the majority of Tennesseans who want the southern border secured and existing immigration laws enforced. Phil Bredesen parrots his Democrat party bosses by criticizing common-sense solutions to secure the border and soliciting support from illegal immigrants — we shouldn’t be surprised since Phil gave 51,000 illegal aliens state-issued licenses to drive while he was governor.”
The video raises further questions over whether the Bredesen campaign solicits support from the Tennesee illegal immigrant community.
On Tuesday, former Gov. Bredesen refused to answer if he or his campaign solicited support from illegal immigrants.
Bredesen hopes to win the Tennesee Senate election in a deep-red state that Donald Trump won during the 2016 election by 26 points. A New York Times poll released in October found that Rep. Blackburn leads Bredesen by 14 points.
The video highlights Bredesen’s opposition to combatting illegal immigration as well as his support for illegal alien amnesty.
In October, Blackburn’s campaign ran an ad in which Bredesen said that a border wall between the United States and Mexico is not the “right answer” for dealing with illegal immigration to the United States. The Democrat Senate candidate said that the wall would serve as nothing more than “political theater.”
“I don’t believe the wall is the right answer,” Bredesen admitted.
“I think there are technologically much sounder and less expensive ways of doing it than building a wall,” Bredesen continued. “I think that’s more political theater.”
Bredesen also contended in July that the federal government’s policy on separating illegal immigrant families applying for asylum in the United States amounts to “child abuse.”
“I mean I can’t imagine whatever your views are, liberal or conservative, that you can possibly condone what effectively amounts to child abuse,” Bredesen said.
Bredesen also came out in support of extending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) amnesty for illegal aliens, calling it a “moral obligation” for the country.
The Tennessee Democrat said, “They were brought here as children, and in many cases have known no other home. Exiling them to a country that is completely foreign to them is morally bankrupt. We are better than that.”
In contrast to Bredesen, Rep. Blackburn told Breitbart News that securing America’s borders and combatting illegal immigration is one of America’s foremost priorities.
“It is something that is not just important, I would say it is imperative,” Blackburn said in an interview with Breitbart News.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.