Minority communities are expressing outrage at a TV advertisement airing in Wisconsin that accuses democrats running for state Assembly of supporting free healthcare for illegal immigrants.
The advertisement, sponsored by the Virginia-based Coalition for America's Families, includes a young man standing on a street corner holding a cardboard sign that reads, Free Healthcare for Illegal Aliens.""
""This is really good news for illegal aliens. They don't even have to live here and the healthcare is free,"" he says.
The ad urges voters to contact democratic Assembly candidates and tell them ""we can't afford their version of healthcare.""
Peter Munoz, executive director of Centro Hispano of Dane County, a Latino rights organization, disapproves of the ad's message, which targets Latino and African American communities.
Munoz said it is ""disturbing"" that the ad uses code words, such as a reference to ""people from Chicago,"" to target not only immigrants, but also African Americans that came to Wisconsin for better opportunities.
""Immigrants came here to pursue the American dream and yet they have been tagged as criminals,"" Munoz said.
Alec Loftus, communications director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, called the ad ""completely slanderous,"" and said these candidates could not have voted for the healthcare proposal the ad is criticizing.
Loftus said these ""cookie cutter"" ads, aired in various counties throughout the state, make the same false claims, and just change the name of the candidate targeted depending on the location in which they are aired.
Mike McCabe, director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said the charge made by the ad was ""invented out of thin air"" and is ""misleading.""
According to McCabe, the Coalition of America's Families has ""cloaked itself"" to the general public by not reporting its donors.
""[It is] important for everyone to understand the charge is made by a group in Virginia and paid for in a way that skirts our disclosure laws and campaign contribution limits. The public is being kept completely in the dark about who is writing the checks for this advertising,"" McCabe said.
