Rising Mississippi Republican Senate candidate Chris McDaniel appears to have plagiarized his immigration plan during his first run office in 2007. McDaniel's immigration plan, archived on his old state senate campaign website heavily copies text from the Federation For American Immigration Reform and research from a University of Pittsburgh law school publication.
A recent poll showed the Tea Party challenger McDaniel with 3% lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Thad Cochran.
McDaniel and Cochran are headed for a primary runoff on June 24.
Here's a screenshot of McDaniel's archived immigration issues webpage:
McDaniel's federal solutions copied FAIR and an article that appeared in The Jurist.
Here's FAIR in at least 2005:
While most illegal immigrants may come only to seek work and a better economic opportunity, their presence outside the law furnishes an opportunity for terrorists to blend into the same shadows while they target the American public for their terrorist crimes.
And here's McDaniel:
While most illegal immigrants may come only to seek work and a better economic opportunity, their presence outside the law furnishes an opportunity for terrorists to blend into the same shadows while they target the American public for their terrorist crimes.
Here's an line that appeared in The Jurist, a web-based legal news research service article in March 2007.
Last year, 30 states passed some 57 laws to crack down on illegal immigrants, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That flurry of legislation reflects states' mounting frustration with federal inaction.
And here's McDaniel:
Last year, 30 states passed some 57 laws to crack down on illegal immigrants, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That flurry of legislation reflects states' mounting frustration with federal inaction.
McDaniel's state solutions for immigration also appear to heavily copy bits from a FAIR report from Feb. 2007.
Here's FAIR:
Because Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents cannot be in all places all of the time, it is imperative that state and local law enforcement be assured they have the proper authority to arrest and detains illegal aliens. Law enforcement officers at any level should not be required to ignore violations of federal law. To improve the enforcement of immigration laws at the state and local level, FAIR advocates the following measures:
Reaffirm authority of state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws
Require federal reimbursement for state and local law enforcement expenses directly related to illegal immigration, except where local sanctuary policies encourage illegal immigrant settlement
Increase funding for the SCAAP program to help states pay for the incarceration of criminal aliens
Authorize state and local judges to authorize removal of nonimmigrants as part of plea bargains in criminal cases
And here's McDaniel:
Because Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents cannot be in all places all of the time, it is imperative that state and local law enforcement be assured they have the proper authority to arrest and detains illegal aliens. Law enforcement officers at any level should not be required to ignore violations of federal law. Reaffirm authority of state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws.
Require federal reimbursement for state and local law enforcement expenses directly related to illegal immigration, except where local sanctuary policies encourage illegal immigrant settlement. Authorize state and local judges to authorize removal of illegal immigrants as part of plea bargains in criminal cases. Require public employers to participate in a federal work authorization program for all new employees
Additional language on McDaniel's immigration issues page matches some of that in a 2007 blog post from the Coalition Against Illegal Immigration. Web archives of McDaniel's campaign site date back to May 2007 but was largely blank until August.
Here's the Coalition Against Illegal Immigration:
Any hope of Amnesty must be eliminated. Amnesty is as strong a magnet for illegal aliens as are jobs and free social services. There cannot be any amnesty for the 30 million illegal aliens already here.
And here's McDaniel:
In addition, any hope of amnesty must be eliminated, since amnesty is as strong a magnet for illegal aliens as are jobs and free social services. There cannot be any amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens within our national border.
A FAIR spokesman told BuzzFeed they did not mind that McDaniel had copied their position:
"FAIR is delighted to see Chris McDaniel, or any candidate from any political party absorb, utilize or repost our information as they see fit," FAIR communications director Bob Dane said when BuzzFeed sent him the copied language.
When asked if he supported McDaniel's campaign, Dane said, "We don't endorse candidates. We endorse issues."
"The Cochran campaign is desperate to change the subject," a spokesman for McDaniel's campaign told BuzzFeed. "And this is yet another distraction from a career politician desperate to shift the focus away from a serious policy discussion."