With Republicans and Democrats at a crossroads on immigration with seven weeks until Election Day, officials on both sides of the aisle want political rhetoric to be tampered down as a debunked story about Haitian migrants heightened tensions over the last week, culminating with a second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump's life that was thwarted over the weekend.
Police charged an undocumented man from the Dominican Republic last week in connection with killing a family of four in Western New York — fueling calls for federal officials to increase security at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Freshman Congressman Republican Marc Molinaro — currently in a tight reelection bid — pointed to the case Tuesday and other crimes involving undocumented people living within the 19th District, spanning from the Finger Lakes to the Hudson Valley.
"It's an assault on our communities, and the one way to intervene the most effectively is to shut the border," he said to kick off the late-morning virtual campaign event.
But Molinaro on Tuesday dodged questions about sharing a debunked claim on his official social media pages that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio town are eating pets — a story former President Donald Trump pushed at last week's presidential debate.
The congressman would not apologize for sharing the story, which remains posted on his Twitter page, and says it's unrelated to the larger border crisis.
"I don't ever want to offend anyone, but I'm offended that this country and this administration has ignored this problem and helped create it over the course of the last two years," he told reporters.
Immigration strategies could impact who will win up to six New York congressional seats expected to determine which party will control the U.S. House of Representatives. Both parties have yet to meet in the middle on a policy that prioritizes security and a streamlined process for asylum seekers without a history of criminal behavior.
Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler, another Republican seeking reelection in a district Joe Biden carried in 2020, has taken the opposite approach. Lawler was swift to denounce the claim about Haitian immigrants eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio, which police in the Midwestern state have said are unfounded.
The freshman congressman last week called out his colleagues spreading the story — cautioning against broad-based statements about immigrants not based in facts. Lawler's 17th District has one of the largest populations of Haitians in the country.
"Obviously, if there's a specific incident to refer to, refer to the incident," he told reporters on Capitol Hill late last week. "But at the end of the day, the idea that Haitian people are doing certain things is wrong."
Several Republican strategists Tuesday admitted the story about Haitians in Ohio is not true, but said they doubt the false claim will harm GOP candidates as a whole.
"The real immigration story is the illegal migrant crisis manufactured and ignored by Democrats," a spokesman with the N.Y. GOP said in a statement Tuesday. "'Border Czar' Kamala harris let millions of illegals into our counry during the Biden-Harris administration — illegals who are swamping our state's resources and committing violent crimes against law-abiding Americans."
New York Republican consultant Chapin Fay, founder of Lighthouse Public Affairs, said thousands of migrants in New York City will keep voters focused on the party's push to stop the flow of newcomers, but candidates must rise above Trump's distracting rhetoric.
"They're going to keep having to deal with things like this coming from, probably, President Trump and above, and they're going to have to answer for that," Fay told Spectrum News 1.
He added Molinaro is focused on attracting voters in this year's tight contest against Democratic opponent Josh Riley.
"He's always done a great job staying close to the people on the ground, but he is running on President Trump's party, so he has to remain cognizant of that base of support," Chapin said.
The GOP adviser said both parties need to stem their rhetoric across the board, including on immigration.
He added Republican candidates may deliver the party's message on immigration differently, but he doesn't expect a negative impact on consequential New York congressional races as Democrats will be forced to answer for the current border crisis.
"There are people that are here in America and it needs to be addressed — they need help," Fay said. "The communities need help. And it's time for people to put differences aside and ... start talking about how to fix these solutions."
Sheriffs from Broome, Sullivan and Greene counties participated in Molinaro's call, slamming the lack of security at the border and Riley, who will challenge Molinaro on Nov. 5.
"Instead of demanding a vote on the bipartisan bill that would secure the southern border, Molinaro is rage-tweeting dangerous, racist, debunked conspiracy theories," Riley said in a statement. "He's not serious about securing the border. I am."