As Donald Trump spends much of the week in New York court, his super PAC is back on the air for the first time in over a month with a stark new attack ad in Pennsylvania that coincides with President Joe Biden’s visit this week and slams his immigration policies.
Trump and his GOP allies have sought to thrust immigration to the fore of the 2024 campaign, hoping to capitalize on voter discontent with the Biden administration’s record. The ad also began airing the same day that the Senate will consider articles of impeachment against Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Alexander Mayorkas, whom they have blasted for his handling of the southern border.
The new ad from the pro-Trump super PAC spotlights the 2022 case of an undocumented immigrant who assaulted and murdered a 20-year-old autistic woman in Maryland and blames “Biden’s weak border policies.” The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee investigated the case last year, finding that the Biden administration “insufficiently vetted” the perpetrator, who had entered the US.
The new ad opens, “A defenseless young girl was brutally raped and killed by an illegal alien and known member of the violent MS 13 gang. It could have been prevented. The killer was detained at the border but released onto our streets by Biden’s weak border policies.”
“Biden’s open border puts us all at risk by releasing criminal illegals into our communities,” it says. “We have to stop Joe Biden to close our border.”
The high-profile case was one of several factors contributing to Republicans’ push to impeach Mayorkas, which is set to proceed Wednesday as the Senate takes up the case, though the Democratic-controlled body is expected to move quickly to dismiss the charges even as Republicans insist on a full trial.
Mayorkas is the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in almost 150 years. House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas in February over his handling of the southern border by a narrow margin after failing to do so on their first try.
The Biden administration has defended Mayorkas’ record. In a statement following the House vote, the White House accused House Republicans of “unconstitutional partisanship” and “petty political games,” and said that Mayorkas “has upheld the rule of law faithfully and has demonstrated a deep commitment to the values that make our nation great.”
But the administration has also hardened immigration policy in response to the blistering criticism from Republicans, embracing tougher border measures, including asylum restrictions and shutting down the US-Mexico border during migrant surges.
The new ad is the first that MAGA Inc. has launched since mid-March, and only the second the group has produced since Trump secured the GOP presidential nomination. It echoes the Trump team’s consistent focus in its campaign messaging on immigration, which was among the top issues referenced in ads from his campaign and super PAC during the presidential primary.
The pro-Trump super PAC is also ramping its ad spending back up, having been mostly off the air since late January in the waning days of the nominating contest. MAGA Inc. has about $1.4 million worth of airtime booked for this week, nearly all of it targeting Pennsylvania – meaning the new ad will be airing at the same time that President Biden is there this week for a campaign swing. MAGA Inc. also has some small reservations in Wisconsin and Georgia this week. In total, MAGA Inc. has spent more than $42 million on advertising since the start of the 2024 presidential race.
