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REPUBLICANS BEGIN AIRING ANTI-IMMIGRATION CAMPAIGN ADVERTISEMENTS
In a continuation from tactics used in the 1994 Congressional races, Republicans are once again making immigration a focal point of their political advertising in the lead up to this year's Presidential election. 
The ads begin with the alarming statements: "Did you know there are over 5 million illegal immigrants in the US? And that you spend .5 billion a year to support them with welfare, food stamps, and other services? Under President Clinton, spending on illegals has gone up." 
The ad is running in California, where President Clinton enjoys a wide lead in the polls over Republican challenger Bob Dole, as well as seventeen other states. The advertisement has drawn criticism because it fails to mention that the outlays on welfare for immigrants are largely offset by taxes paid by illegal immigrants. Furthermore, the vast majority of the .5 billion cited was not for welfare benefits as the ad leads the viewer to believe, but for the costs of public education, emergency health care and prison incarceration. Bob Dole has stated publicly that he would not cut off funding for emergency health care, though he has recently reversed his earlier position and stated that he would deny a public school education to an illegal immigrant child. Critics of the ad state that Republicans should state what the real issue is in the debate - providing funding for the education of undocumented children - rather than misleading the public into believing that the major issue is welfare benefits. 
President Clinton, for his part, has begun airing response ads stating that under his watch, the number of border patrol officers has increased substantially.