Casey Askar ties coronavirus to border wall in latest ad.

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The Naples Republican praises Donald Trump for suspending immigration.

Naples Republican Casey Askar’s newest advertisement ties an immigration suspension over the pandemic to the need for a border wall.

The newest spot from the Congressional candidate contrasts a computer dashboard showing coronavirus spread worldwide against cars lined up at U.S. checkpoints. In narration, Askar praises President Donald Trump for suspending international immigration.

“This crisis clearly illustrates just how important our nation’s borders are to maintaining domestic security,” Askar said. “When I’m elected to Congress, I will work with President Trump to fix our broken immigration system once and for all.”

The ad, entitled “Once and For All,” moves from imagery around the COVID-19 pandemic to footage of Trump standing by portions of the border wall under construction between Mexico and the U.S.

“I’ll help the President finish the wall and control the border once and for all,” he said.

Mexico to date has 59,567 confirmed cases of COVID-19 compared to nearly 1.6 million cases in the United States and about 5.2 million cases worldwide, according to Florida’s Department of Health dashboard.

Askar states in the ad that more immigrants come to America than any other country on earth. “But with a deadly virus spreading across the globe and millions of Americans unemployed, our borders have to be secure,” Askar said.

Askar himself immigrated to the United States as a child, a part of his story stressed in prior ads. His family moved to the U.S. from Iraq, fleeing the Saddam Hussein regime on the candidate’s seventh birthday.

He stresses in a press release announcing his ad that he’s an Iraqi refugee, veteran Marine and successful business owner.

The fast food mogul is one of 10 Republicans running in Florida’s 19th Congressional District to succeed Rep. Frances Rooney. Running as a political outsider, he’s taken a hard line on immigration and against China since jumping into the race.

Jacob Ogles

Jacob Ogles has covered politics in Florida since 2000 for regional outlets including SRQ Magazine in Sarasota, The News-Press in Fort Myers and The Daily Commercial in Leesburg. His work has appeared nationally in The Advocate, Wired and other publications. Events like SRQ’s Where The Votes Are workshops made Ogles one of Southwest Florida’s most respected political analysts, and outlets like WWSB ABC 7 and WSRQ Sarasota have featured his insights. He can be reached at [email protected].


4 comments

  • CaseyIsRight

    May 22, 2020 at 3:47 pm

    This article, like too many articles written on immigration, pushes the lie that “immigration,” and “illegal immigration,” are one and the same.

    The writer even points out that this candidate is an immigrant from Iraq, who escaped from Saddam Hussein’s regime, on his seventy birthday.

    The writer again conflates what Mr. Askar is trying to stop with a wall that Donald Trump is building on our Southern border.

    The writer is clearly trying to promote his agenda against controlled migration at our borders. And, the swipe at Trump and Mr. Askar for supporting him, are at the forefront of this article.

    It is sad, that the Democrats have less regard for American citizens, and those who immigrate “legally” to become an integral part of our country, than they do for those who choose to come here “illegally,” in an attempt to get what they can, without having any allegiance to this country.

    • Jim Donelon

      May 22, 2020 at 6:10 pm

      If you want to talk “legally” Mr. Askar has committed multiple violations of the Florida election laws.

      He’s as crooked as the IDIOT in the White House he wants to be a puppet for.

  • Amy Roberts

    May 22, 2020 at 3:58 pm

    Wow, he came to the land of opportunity and became a huge success. What makes him different than those south of our borders wanting the same and those that have reached success as well. He should be supportive, instead he has made his bid to join in with those that have taken an oath, not to the good folks of Florida, but to take the taxpayers for all they can.

    • Mary R.

      May 30, 2020 at 3:34 pm

      Guess Mr. Askar is very lucky we had our borders open on his 7th birthday.

Comments are closed.


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