America’s Voice called Brown, the incumbent Republican, a “hard-liner” on immigration who supported the Republican filibuster of the DREAM Act and opposed President Barack Obama’s executive order that essentially halted the deportation of young, undocumented immigrants who met certain criteria.
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BOSTON- A pro-immigration reform group that supports a path to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants labeled the race between U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren one of six Senate contests to watch heading into November.
America’s Voice called Brown, the incumbent Republican, a “hard-liner” on immigration who supported the Republican filibuster of the DREAM Act and opposed President Barack Obama’s executive order that essentially halted the deportation of young, undocumented immigrants who met certain criteria.
“Brown gave up all pretense of moderation when he voted in support of the Republican filibuster of the DREAM Act,” the group wrote in a short synopsis of the campaign.
Warren, by comparison, hold views “at the welcoming end of the spectrum” and supports both the DREAM Act and Obama’s deportation policy, according to the organization.
Immigration has yet to emerge as a hot-button issue in the Brown and Warren race, but America’s Choice said the the Latino voting population was a growing bloc in Massachusetts. According to Latino Vote Matters, in Massachusetts, the state electorate is comprised of 5.7 percent Latinos, a 98 percent increase between 2000 and 2010 when Brown was first elected.
The latest Suffolk University/7NEWS poll that showed Warren leading Brown 48 percent to 44 percent among likely voters, also found that the Democrat had a 70 percent to 19 percent lead over Brown among Hispanics, with 11 percent undecided. The poll surveyed 37 Latino likely voters, or 6 percent of the overall sample.
Brown, according to his website, opposed “amnesty” and supports stronger border enforcement and an employment verification system with penalties for companies that hire illegal immigrants.
“I recognize that our strength as a nation is built on the immigrant experience in America. However, we are also a nation of laws, and government should not adopt policies that encourage illegal immigration,” Brown said in the issues section of his campaign site.
Warren says she supports a three-pronged approach to immigration that starts with upholding existing laws, protecting the country’s borders and enforcing laws against recruiting, hiring and exploiting undocumented workers.
The Democrat and law professor, however, said she supports a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants that would require them to pay taxes and “go to the back of the line.” Any policy, Warren says, must also “help us retain talent trained at our world-class institutions and support job creation.”
America’s Voice describes itself as an organization focused on building public support for policies that “secure full labor, civil and political rights for undocumented immigrants and their families.” The group supports legal status and a path to citizenship for the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
Officials from the organization did not immediately respond to questions about how involved the organization might become in Massachusetts in the final few weeks of the election, and whether they planned to run ads.
The group singled out the Senate races in Massachusetts, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico and Virginia. Four of the six states have higher Latino voting populations than Massachusetts, each in double digit percentages, while Virginia has the smallest with just 2.2 percent Latino voters.