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REPORT: Immigration’s Dirty Dozen,12 of the Most Outrageous Candidate Statements in 2010

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The 2010 mid-term campaign season is shaping up to be one of the most vicious and vitriolic in recent memory — especially when it comes to the issue of immigration.

Distortions, lies, and stereotypes have dominated the airwaves when it comes to immigration, and Latino Americans in this nation.  From threats of violence against immigrants to calls for mass deportation, candidates across the country are unleashing a torrent of extreme speech that is both alarming and un-American.

Who’s the worst of the worst?  To be honest, it was hard to choose…and we might have to update this again.  Here’s a dozen of the most outrageous candidate claims thus far, plus a couple honorable mentions.  Consider this the Immigration Politics 2010 Wall of Shame. 

1. SHARRON ANGLE, U.S. Senate candidate, NV (R)

Sharron Angle Immigration Ad

–television ad, September 2010

“I’m not sure that those are Latinos in that commercial. What it is, is a fence and there are people coming across that fence. What we know is that our northern border is where the terrorists came through. That’s the most porous border that we have.”

October 15, 2010, addressing Rancho High School’s Hispanic Student Union, after being asked why her ads portrayed Latinos as “illegal aliens” and criminals. (In late October, Angle released an ad with images of a Border Patrol checkpoint whose exterior clearly reads “El Paso, Texas.”)

“I don’t know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me. I don’t know that.”

October 15, 2010, during the same conversation with members of Rancho High School’s Hispanic Student Union

Sharron Angle Immigration Ad

Sharron Angle Immigration Ad

–television ad, October 2010

MORE:

Check out the full “Dirty Dozen” here.

View summaries of candidate positions on immigration in fifty-four races here

Read more about the politics of immigration in the 2010 elections here.