Dems seize political opportunity in House border votes

The House Democratic campaign arm is running Spanish-language advertisements against GOP incumbents on immigration in the wake of votes on the border crisis.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced Monday that they were airing Web advertisements geared toward Spanish-speaking voters in districts with large Hispanic populations.

{mosads}The move comes after the House passed late on Friday a $694 million package to provide resources for addressing the surge of child migrants crossing the border. Separately, the House voted on a bill that would prevent expansion of the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) program that offers two-year work permits to immigrants in the country illegally who arrived to the U.S. as children before 2007.

The DCCC is targeting six incumbent House Republicans in the online push: Reps. Jeff Denham (Calif.), Joe Heck (Nev.), David Valadao (Calif.), Michael Grimm (N.Y.), Steve Pearce (N.M.) and Mike Coffman (Colo.). Valadao, Coffman and Grimm are considered among the most vulnerable House Republicans this election cycle. 

Coffman, Denham, Heck and Valadao are the only members who voted against the DACA bill who are being targeted. Grimm and Pearce voted for the DACA bill.

The Spanish-language advertisements slam the GOP for supporting deportations and allowing a vote on legislation pushed by anti-immigration hardliners like Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). 

“Failure! Congressman Coffman is part of the problem, and his leaders are hurting our DREAMers. He’s failing our community. Shame on him!” one advertisement against Coffman translates.

Seven more GOP members also defected on DACA: Reps. Mark Amodei (Nev.), Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.), Cory Gardner (Colo.), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Dave Reichert (Wash.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.) and Fred Upton (Mich.). 

Denham, Valadao, Diaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen are among the few House Republicans who support comprehensive immigration reform. 

Heck, who supports a path to citizenship for immigrants, said in a statement after the votes that he could not “in good conscience” vote for the anti-DACA bill.

“While I do not agree with the President going around Congress to implement DACA, I cannot in good conscience vote to close the door on those individuals who have been given the opportunity to make a life for themselves in the only country they have ever known,” Heck said.

Meanwhile, four House Democrats broke with their party and voted for the bill to scale back the DACA program: Reps. John Barrow (Ga.), Collin Peterson (Minn.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.) and Nick Rahall (W.Va.). Barrow, Peterson and Rahall are all top GOP targets this cycle. McIntyre is also a centrist who frequently defects from Democrats on key issues, but he is retiring.