Immigration activists unexpectedly took the stage with Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) to protest her for not being pro-amnesty enough at a campaign event Sunday, according to a Buzzfeed report.
While Hagan supported the Senate immigration bill that would have provided amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, she has said that she would prefer Congress take action on immigration reform, rather that have President Obama take executive action on the matter.
The immigration activists Sunday ran up to the stage where she was speaking and stood next to her, one holding a sign reading “Friends Don’t Deport Friends.”
Watch:
“Oh y’all, we definitely support immigration reform. But you need to go talk to Thom Tillis,” Hagan, who is in a tight reelection bid against the Republican Tillis, told the protestors.
“Y’all I’ve supported common sense bipartisan immigration reform,” she added.
According to an North Carolina DREAM Team member, Viridiana Martinez, who participated in the Hagan disruption Sunday, they are not pleased with her recent vote to allow an amendment that would have blocked President Obama’s executive actions on immigration and a 2010 vote to block the Dream Act.
“We wanted to make clear she is not our friend,” Martinez said to BuzzFeed News. “She has a track record of being anti-immigrant.”
The incident came a day after immigration activists heckled Hagan and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a campaign event in Charlotte, according to Buzzfeed.
In addition to the recent campaign disruptions immigration activists have recently put up two billboards in opposition to Hagan and have run Spanish-language radio ads against her.
Meanwhile, McClatchy News Sunday speculated that immigration, as an issue, could be a factor in the tight election between Tillis and Hagan.
Where Tillis has been speaking out against amnesty and calling for a secure border before dealing with the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country, he has been back by the Chamber of Commerce, which supports amnesty.
“We are not a single-issue organization,” said chamber spokeswoman Blair Latoff Holmes told McClatchy.
Hagan, who supported amnesty in the Senate-passed immigration bill, has been fending off criticism from activists like the North Carolina DREAM Team for not being pro-amnesty enough.
“Just as the chamber has been a traditional Republican ally, Latino voters have played a similar role for Democrats,” McClatchy reported Sunday. “A recent poll shows those who have decided favor Hagan by a large margin, but 45 percent were undecided, not necessarily a good sign for the Democratic incumbent. Though Latinos only account for two percent of the North Carolina electorate, and fewer than 20 percent cast a ballot in the 2010 midterm elections, a close contest like North Carolina’s Senate race can turn on the smallest developments.”
The Real Clear Politics Average has Hagan with a slight 1.6 percentage point lead.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.