There are ads popping up in major cities across the country causing great controversy. They say black American workers have been unfairly victimized by an influx of immigrants.


The ads, which are hosted by the former head of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, are blaming the high rates of unemployment in the African-American community on mass immigration. They say black American workers have been unfairly victimized by an influx of immigrants. The ads are provocative, "Well, I've fought for civil rights all my life. I oppose mass immigration," and so is the message behind them.

 

  "Forty percent of working age black American men do not have a job in this country," said Roy Beck with NumbersUSA, "They've been driven out of those jobs because the U.S. Congress flooded our labor market with both legal and illegal labor."

Outside a D.C. unemployment office, the ads touched a raw nerve with Evelino Hopkins. "If they're legally bound to work in the U.S., I have no problem with it. But if you just come here and snatch jobs, I mean, I don't like it," he said.

"I don't see blacks for example waiting on the corners, looking for jobs," said business owner Luis Salinas. Like many latinos, Salinas fears the ad campaign may encourage a racial divide between blacks and latinos. "It's gonna grow more and more of what we already have, communities raising their flags against immigrants," Salinas said.

The head of the NAACP (web | news) Washington's Bureau, Hilary Shelton, agrees, calling the ads "scare tactics". "What we're experiencing in our country Tuesday because of ads like this, because of mindsets like this, are really hate crimes being committed against Hispanic Americans."

Shelton says a broken immigration system may have cost some blacks their jobs, but it's unfair to blame the immigrants themselves."The focus should really be on the federal government fixing the problem," Shelton said.





The controversial ads are already running in major cities nationwide and are expected to hit the D.C. area in the next few months.

The most recent numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the black unemployment rate in D.C.at 10 percent. Nationwide, it's nearly nine percent.