Ad Stretches Facts to Paint Heitkamp as Liberal ‘Rubber Stamp’
A TV ad attacking Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp stretches some facts to paint the incumbent North Dakota senator as a “rubber stamp” for the “Washington liberal agenda.”
The ad says Heitkamp supported “amnesty for 11 million illegal immigrants, including domestic violence perpetrators and child abusers.” The bipartisan immigration bill Heitkamp supported would have toughened green card requirements, barring those convicted of domestic or child abuse who served a year or more in jail or who had two or more convictions for those offenses. She did oppose a proposed amendment that included a provision that would have gone even further, blocking those with only one misdemeanor conviction for domestic or child abuse.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill Heitkamp supported, the so-called Gang of Eight immigration bill, would have resulted in 8 million getting on a path to citizenship, not 11 million as the ad claimed.
The phrase “amnesty” is also misleading. The bill — which was also by North Dakota’s Republican senator, John Hoeven — would have provided an earned path to citizenship, not automatic and
