President Trump and congressional Republicans, eager to find an issue that can help minimize losses in the midterm elections, are citing crime, illegal immigration and public safety to paint a bleak picture of how the U.S. would become less safe under a Democratic-controlled Congress, reports the New York Times. This week, they seized on the news that a missing Iowa college student, Mollie Tibbetts, had been found dead, and that a man the authorities said was an undocumented immigrant was charged with her murder. “A person came in from Mexico illegally and killed her,” said President Trump. “We need the wall, we need our immigration laws changed, we need our border laws changed.”
In messages directed at voters — especially women, who are most motivated by concerns over personal safety — Republicans say that if the Democrats are victorious in November, violent crime and drugs will become greater scourges, the MS-13 gang will run rampant, and communities will unravel. Republicans point to the sudden popularity on the left of the “Abolish ICE” movement, which seeks to dismantle the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, as evidence of how Democrats would harm public safety. An ad from the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC supporting House Republican candidates, features audio of Sharice Davids, a Democrat running for a Republican-held seat near Kansas City, saying she would support eliminating the agency. “Sharice Davids: Open borders, amnesty — a risk we can’t take,” the ad says. “Democrats do not want to have an election on these things,” said Pat Caddell, a veteran pollster who has worked for Republicans and Democrats and is helping a group led by Stephen Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, that is trying to protect the Republican House majority.