Sometimes things just get lost in translation, but when it comes to Republican websites, the language incongruities appear deliberate. After an initial report found that Nevada Senator Dean Heller’s Spanish website offered up a distinctly milder immigration stance than its English language counterpart, ThinkProgress has discovered other inconsistencies on GOP websites meant to reach Latino constituents.
Heller, the original offender, tried to pull a fast one on Spanish speakers by omitting his stance on border security and illegal immigration on his campaign’s Spanish site. Both of Heller’s websites have some general information on his immigration stance, but according to his English site (and only his English site):
“Businesses who knowingly hire illegal immigrants should be held accountable. Dean also believes border patrol must also have the resources necessary to end the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States and opposes amnesty for those who enter America illegally.”
Heller is not the only Republican guilty of this kind of web editing. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is a staunch Republican who, like Heller, represents a state with a huge Spanish speaking population. On Senator Cornyn’s English site, “Immigration” is the fourth policy listed on the “Key Issues” page — higher than “Education” and even “Homeland Security.” On the other hand, users on his Spanish site must scroll down to near the bottom of the page to learn about his immigration views.
Representative Steve Pearce (R) from New Mexico? Look on his English site’s “issues” page and “Border Security” is the first policy explanation you’ll find. But if you switch over to his site in Spanish, “Seguridad Fronteriza” is dead last.
The GOP is also wary of communicating its immigration stance to Spanish speakers on the national scale. RNClatinos.com, a recent Republican web effort to generate Latino support — which oddly enough originally used a stock photo of the wrong ethnicity — offers no explanation of Republican immigration policy at all. To be fair, neither does the English RNC website. Still, it would seem odd that a website specifically geared towards incorporating the Latino electorate would have such a glaring omission.
Recent Republican immigration laws have been, by in large, extremely hostile to Latinos. It’s not surprising then that obfuscation and surreptitious outreach is the GOP’s only prayer at securing some Latino votes, especially in light of President Obama’s immigration announcement last week.
By Steven Perlberg
Think Progress
