A new attack ad by the Karl Rove-founded group American Crossroads included a curious citation: a widely panned Heritage Foundation study on immigration reform which was co-written by a scholar who once argued against letting immigrants with low IQs into the country.
The ad attacks Rep. Bruce Braley, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Iowa, on Obamacare before pivoting to immigration reform. At 0:21 into the ad text reads “Bruce Braley: Giving Lawbreakers Food Stamps and Medicare”; at the bottom is a citation to “The Heritage Foundation, 5/6/13.”
When reached for comment American Crossroads communications director Paul Lindsay confirmed that the citation was referring to the Heritage study that caused such controversy.
In a followup email Lindsay said that the Heritage Foundation didn’t “debunk” the immigration study itself, the think tank instead disavowed the 2009 work by Richwine. Lindsay stressed that the ad was citing the Heritage study, not the 2009 work by Richwine.
As TPM previously noted, one of the authors of the study in question, was Jason Richwine who argued that immigrants with low IQs should be barred from coming to the country. The result of that, according to Richwine, would be that HIspanics, who tend to have low IQs according to him, would be kept from coming to the United States.
The study was panned even by libertarian think tank the Cato Institute, which called the research “fatally flawed.” Richwine resigned from the Heritage Foundation following the criticism, and the Heritage Foundation itself eventually disavowed the study.
Watch the ad below:
(Photo credit: YouTube)
This post was updated.
