Xenophobic—and false.
Last week, we saw congressman and Arkansas GOP Senate nominee Tom Cotton make a
blatant appeal to nativism with an ad attacking Mark Pryor for allegedly trying to let immigrants who become citizens receive credit for Social Security taxes they paid before achieving legal status. The ad was worthy of Jesse Helms' infamous "Hands" ad, but aside from that fundamental criticism, it left out one extremely important detail: Mark Pryor actually
has the same position as Tom Cotton.
To be clear, I don't raise this to defend Pryor. In my view, he's every bit as wrong as Cotton on the substance of this issue. We're not talking about giving people credit for taxes they didn't pay—we're talking about giving people credit for taxes they did pay, taxes on work they actually performed. Instead of worrying about coming up with ways to punish people who pay taxes even when they don't have legal status, what we should really be worried about is reforming our immigration system so that it rewards and welcomes people who want to come to America, not just because immigration is good for immigrants, but because it also makes us a stronger country.
And even though I don't agree with Pryor's position on Social Security taxes, on the larger question of immigration reform, he's voted the right way and isn't trying to win by running deceptive nativist attack ads. He's not perfect, but he's clearly better than Cotton.