ABSTRACT
In 2010, an Arizona law aimed at identifying and deporting unauthorized immigrants attracted national attention, and several politicians (including Senator John McCain) endorsed the law in the context of their political campaigns. In his campaign ad, McCain blames unauthorized immigrants for “drugs and human smuggling, home invasion (and) murder” before calling for Arizona to “complete the danged fence.” Senator McCain did survive his tough primary challenge, and many politicians see anti-immigrant rhetoric as a winning political campaign strategy. In June 2006, Republican Brian Bilbray picked up the disgraced Randy Cunningham’s congressional seat in a wealthy Southern California district just outside of San Diego. His Democratic opponent, Francine Busby, ran against what she termed the “culture of corruption” in the Republican Party, but Bilbray, who ran a campaign based on opposition to unauthorized immigration, won out (LaVelle 2006). The campaign’s success seems surprising given the characteristics of the district: an extremely wealthy district where voters were in no danger of losing their jobs to undocumented immigrants.
