San Diego, CA– The country's largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization today challenged presumptive presidential nominees Senators Barack Obama and John McCain to rein in offensive and charged rhetoric on immigration in their respective parties' congressional campaigns this fall. The challenge comes just days before they are both scheduled to address the National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) Annual Conference in San Diego.

"Senators McCain and Obama have both been leaders in the immigration reform effort and have urged a thoughtful and well-informed debate on this difficult issue,” said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO. "But others in their respective political parties are using inaccurate and inflammatory language to inspire fear and resentment against immigrants for the sake of advancing their political campaigns."

Murguía pointed to campaign brochures and television advertisements by both parties, including a Democratic Campaign Committee leaflet and a blog posting on the website of North Carolina Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole. The materials that Murguía found offensive include:

• A charged leaflet by the Missouri State Democratic Committee, which shows a yellow traffic sign depicting a running family; the leaflet attacks Representative Sam Graves (R-MO), charging him with allowing five million "illegal immigrants" into the country.
• A Republican television commercial by Senator Harri Anne Smith from Alabama’s Second Congressional District, which condemns languages other than English and shows brown hands in handcuffs and shadowy images crossing into the United States
• A personal blog from the website of Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), which cites the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) as a source of information on the impact of immigration in North Carolina; FAIR has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group with ties to eugenics and white supremacy.

"Hate has hijacked the immigration debate," said Murguía whose organization—through its website, www.WeCanStopTheHate.org—has been decrying the growing influence of hate groups and hate speech on television and radio and in political campaigns. "What passes for debate on this issue is often little more than a demagogic attack designed to inflame Americans rather than enlighten them. Our political leaders can stop it," she said. "They should stop it."

"As the leaders of their respective parties, I challenge Senators Obama and McCain not to look the other way while others stoop to demagoguery. I urge them in the strongest possible terms to confront inflammatory anti-immigrant language and images when members of their party seek to use them as campaign tactics. I ask them to lead the country in elevating the tone in this badly needed policy debate.”

Murguía said that NCLR welcomes a thoughtful debate on immigration. "It is a complex problem," she said, "and one we can solve. But we can't have a civil debate as long as hate has the microphone." Murguía said that she has contacted each of the campaigns in writing and plans to address the topic more fully in her own address at the NCLR Annual Conference Tuesday Luncheon, after the two nominees have spoken.

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