The Maryland Republican Party in the United States has launched an ad campaign that attacks Democratic Congressional candidate Aruna Miller over her pro-immigrants stance, accusing her of “rolling out the red carpet for criminals.” Miller has responded to the mailers by saying that the Republican Party is attempting to “demonize all immigrants,” the Washington Post reported.
The ad campaign has been started against Miller for lending support to a bill that would ban local law enforcement agencies from questioning people about their immigration status, the report said.
“Delegate Aruna Miller is a sponsor of the ‘Sanctuary State Bill,’ House Bill 1461, and is a strong proponent of making Maryland a sanctuary state. Tell Delegate Miller that this is unacceptable and she needs to end her support for the bill,” the Maryland Republican Party said in a statement on its website. It urged people to sign the petition telling delegate Miller, “We need to clean-up our streets, not add to the problem!”
Another mailer, sent out to voters, said: “Delegate Aruna Miller is treating criminals like celebrities.” The ads featured comments such as “And now, Aruna Miller wants to give criminals even more protection at our expense,” and “Why would Delegate Miller prioritize criminals over us?”
The Republican Party also took to the social media, where chairman Dirk Haire said, “Maryland voters deserve to know about Delegate Aruna Miller’s voting record.”
Calling the ad campaign “racist,” the India-born Miller said, “As an immigrant and proud American, I find the dog-whistle rhetoric used by Trump Republicans to be despicable,” the Washington Post reported.
She also took to the social media to hit back at the Maryland Republican Party. “I’ve stood up for our progressive values of opportunity and diversity, and nothing—especially a bigoted, tasteless hit piece—will stop me from continuing this fight in Congress,” she tweeted on April 6.
She added: “Ever since President Trump made an announcement to run for office in 2015 he has made a scapegoat of immigrants and our families. The decisions made by this administration cut against the very values of the American dream.”
As a proud immigrant and proud American, it's despicable the way @MDGOP are attacking not just me, but attempting to demonize all immigrants. pic.twitter.com/8sVGhrXKff
— Aruna K. Miller (@arunamiller) April 6, 2018
Miller is one of eight Democrats who are seeking the nomination for the 6th Congressional District seat that Rep. John Delaney, also a Democrat, is vacating. She has served in the House of Delegates since 2010. The primary election of Maryland is scheduled to be held on June 26 this year.
The bill, titled Criminal Procedure – Immigration – Supporting All Families Everywhere, is seeking to place a ban on local law enforcement from detaining a person only on the grounds of violating immigration rules. It also gives some legal protection to representatives of jurisdictions who chose not to show cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Similar policies exist in many cities in the United States and these are known as sanctuary cities. Miller was one of the 58 lawmakers who supported the pending legislation, according to the report.