As the Biden administration has overseen record numbers of illegal immigrant crossings on the southern border, vulnerable Democrats are paying the price on the campaign trail.
A new TV ad released Monday hits Sen. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.) as a "bald-faced liar" for professing support for border security while enabling lax border protection.
"Mark Kelly claims he's improving border security," the ad, paid for by Republican candidate Jim Lamon, says. "But Kelly voted against border security funding three times. On his watch, illegal border crossings exploded—including sex predators, murderers, even a suspected terrorist—and deportations dropped 70 percent."
The ad is responding to a Kelly campaign ad in which the senator says he led efforts to "improve border security." Kelly has taken flak, however, from critics in Arizona who say he chooses loyalty to the national Democratic Party platform over his state's interests, including border security. In November, top Arizona law enforcement officials called him "completely absent" on the border issue. "Mark Kelly scares the hell out of us," one police representative said.
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security recorded 164,973 illegal immigrants apprehended at the border, the highest total ever recorded in February.
Polling shows Americans have low confidence in the Biden administration's commitments to protect the border. A Convention of States Action/Trafalgar Group poll conducted this month showed 65 percent of respondents are not confident that Biden will deliver on his promise to secure the border.