CAPS TV Ad Asks Arizona if Senator Jeff Flake is Ready to Work with Trump on Immigration

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Flake Continues Role as Critic, Impediment to Trump’s Immigration Agenda

PHOENIX (February 7, 2017) – Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) launched TV ads in Arizona this week asking if Senator Jeff Flake is really ready to work with President Trump on immigration. The ads are running on TV stations in Phoenix and on FOX News in prime time. The campaign is scheduled to air for several weeks.

“Sen. Flake claims to be ready to work with President Trump on immigration. Yet Flake has already sponsored an illegal alien amnesty bill and is one of Trump’s loudest immigration critics,” said Jo Wideman, CAPS Executive Director. “The people of Arizona helped get President Trump elected. Do they really want Sen. Flake to sabotage Trump’s immigration agenda?”

Sen. Flake’s record on immigration has been at odds with President Trump’s immigration agenda, prompting Trump to label Flake “weak and ineffective” in 2016. Flake was a member of the 2013 Gang of Eight that wrote S 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, an immigration bill that, if signed into law, would have given amnesty to millions of illegal aliens and allowed millions more foreign workers into the country to take American jobs and hold down wages. Since then, Flake has supported numerous bills designed to increase the flow of foreign workers into the country.

The differences between Trump’s immigration policies and Flake’s are not limited to jobs and wages. Trump has promised to pass “Kate’s Law.” But Flake was one of two Republican senators initially pushing back on Kate’s Law, telling Politico that five-year mandatory minimum sentences for illegal aliens who re-enter the U.S. after being deported were not something he could recommend.

Kate’s Law was passed in the House in 2016, but blocked in the Senate. Flake held up the bill despite high profile immigration-related tragedies in Arizona, including the death of Sergeant Brandon Mendoza of the Mesa Police Department, killed by an illegal alien with numerous prior convictions.

Recently, Flake has continued his criticism of President Trump’s immigration policies, denouncing the President’s seven-country, 90-day travel ban as “unacceptable.” And in an attempt to short circuit President Trump’s ability to implement his immigration agenda, Flake co-sponsored another Gang of Eight bill in December 2016 that would give temporary amnesty to more than 700,000 illegal aliens.

More immigrants live in California than any other state, so federal immigration policy affects California more than any other state. Arizona consistently ranks in the top 15 states with the highest share of immigrants.

“Sen. Flake will play an important role in determining the direction of the country’s immigration policies,” added Wideman. “He should work in good faith with President Trump and put Americans first as he considers immigration policy. Let’s make our immigration policy great again! Arizona and California are depending on it.”

To view the TV ad and learn more about CAPS, visit www.CAPSweb.org.