By Matt Friedman/The Star-Ledger
on December 04, 2013 at 4:36 PM, updated December 04, 2013 at 5:29 PM

TRENTON - A Democratic super PAC is targeting Gov. Chris Christie on immigration, alleging he broke his promise to Hispanic voters and tying him to a conservative congressman who has made controversial remarks about immigrants who are in the country illegally.

The internet-only ad from American Bridge 21st Century PAC, a Washington-based group, comes after Christie said he would not support the state Senate’s version of a bill (S2479) to offer in-state tuition rates to immigrants who grew up in New Jersey but do not have legal status, despite saying he supports the concept during his campaign for re-election.

The video contrasts Christie’s remarks during the campaign to a Star-Ledger editorial accusing him of a “flip flop” on the issue.

Finally, the video shows Christie speaking at a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who later said that for every unauthorized immigrant “who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”

“Steve King – that’s’ the guy I choose to stand with,” Christie said at the fundraiser.



The video was first reported by ABCNews.com.

At a press conference Monday, Christie said he still supports the concept of “tuition equality” but said he would not support state-funded Tuition Aid Grants to undocumented immigrants, that the bill would allow out-of-state students who went to private high school in New Jersey to qualify for in-state tuition, and that he wants to see it limited to students who arrived in the United States before 2012.

Immigration advocates have accused Christie of backpedaling, saying the bill hasn’t changed in months and that Christie could have raised the objections much earlier. But Martin Perez, a Christie ally who leads the Latino Leadership Alliance and who he appointed to the Rutgers Board of Governors, in a PolitickerNJ.com op-ed today suggested Democrats of trying to tank the bill by making it too generous because the financial aid provision was not in versions of the bill introduced in previous legislative sessions.

A spokesman for Christie declined to comment.

Chris Harris, a spokesman for the PAC, said there are no current plans to buy television air time for the ad. But he said the point is to contrast Christie’s actions with his rhetoric.

“Christie’s been bragging around all over talking about how he got however much percent it was support among Latinos, implying that could last nationally, too,” Harris said. “But I think that’s naïve and overly optimistic of him when you juxtapose what he’s doing now that he’s been reelected with what he said just a couple weeks before.”

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