Washington.- A drug needle enters a person’s arm; an adult and a child walk through a cemetery; and images of migrants walking along a sandy stretch of a border wall, in Yuma, Arizona, play out as ominous music plays in the background of this video.
It’s a 40-second political ad in support of Blake Masters, the Republican Senate candidate in Arizona, who is running against Mark Kelly, the incumbent Democrat. The ad connects fatal fentanyl and methamphetamine overdoses to an increase in illegal migration on the southwest border. It’s one of more than 400 political ads linking immigration to drugs this election cycle, according to America’s Voice, an immigration advocacy group.
And it’s part of a false GOP narrative that connects fatal fentanyl overdoses to a surge in illegal migration and portrays hardline Republican immigration policies as a response to crime and the drug epidemic. Most of the fentanyl enters the country through official ports of entry on the southwest border, hidden in legitimate trade.
The false narrative, resonating with voters across the country, is just one example of how toxic the immigration issue has become. Republicans have stepped up attacks on President Biden as weak and ineffective on immigration, making it even more difficult for the Biden administration to secure meaningful immigration reform after the midterm elections, especially if the GOP controls the Republican Party. least one legislative chamber.
But even if Republicans win control in Congress and want to advance their immigration policies, particularly border security, they will have to find some compromise with Democrats to get past the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate, something that has been elusive for years regardless of party control.