A political attack ad criticizing U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown's voting record on immigration made several false claims about Columbus law enforcement.
The One Nation PAC spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to air the ad through Google online and on several streaming services like Hulu between late August and early September. The Republican-aligned political action committee is not affiliated with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno's campaign, but made ad buys in several key states attacking Democratic U.S. Senate candidates.
This attack ad starts off by stamping the words "Sanctuary Cities" over the skyline of Columbus. The ad then lists three names of undocumented immigrants alleging they committed crimes and claiming Columbus officials released them onto Ohio streets after they committed crimes.
WOSU fact-checked this claim using information from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Franklin County court records and found it to be false. However, the ad's claim that Columbus is a sanctuary city is mostly true.
The three immigrants One Nation PAC lists were all put through Franklin County court and later deported after receiving due process
The ad lists three names of undocumented immigrants who it says committed crimes in Ohio and were later released. These names are Mexican nationals Edgar Soto-Moreno and Manuel Vazquez-Sanchez and Somalian national Hajir Muhammud.
WOSU spoke with ICE and combed through Franklin County court records and found all three were put through normal criminal proceedings and were later deported after receiving due process.
Soto-Moreno was charged with possession of cocaine and possession of a firearm while committing a felony during a 2019 traffic stop in Italian Village. He was tried in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas and sentenced to two years in prison. ICE said Soto-Moreno was released in March 2022 and he was transferred to ICE custody and deported to Mexico on April 8, 2022.
Vazquez-Sanchez was charged with domestic violence, assault and misleading a public official in Franklin County Municipal Court. He pled guilty to amended charges and was sentenced to 180 days in prison. Shortly after he was released, ICE said he was transferred to ICE custody following the resolution of his local charges. ICE's Detroit office deported him to Mexico on Jan. 14, 2022.
Muhammud was charged with failing to register as a sex offender for a previous crime. The charges against Muhammud were dropped, but a court in Cleveland ordered Muhammad to be removed from the United States on March 19, 2020. That order was carried out on Sept. 17, 2020, which was shortly after charges against Muhammud were dropped.
In each case, the three were released on bond as their local court proceedings finished.
By all accounts, all three received their due process. They were not released without consequences onto Ohio streets like the advertisement claimed.
Where did the PAC get this information?
The PAC cited a 2020 ICE press release that said the Franklin County Sheriff's Office refused to comply with the agency's detainer request to hold each man so they could each be deported. The press release said the sheriff declined to comply with each request.
ICE's release said it lodges detainers on individuals who have been arrested on criminal charges and who ICE has probable cause to believe are undocumented immigrants. The detainer asks the other law enforcement agency to notify ICE in advance of release and to maintain custody of the immigrant for a brief period of time so that ICE can take custody of that person in a safe and secure setting upon release from that agency’s custody.
Franklin County Sheriff's spokeswoman Maria Durant said in a statement that no one with an outstanding criminal ICE detainer has been released. She explained that ICE sometimes places non-criminal detainers on immigrants, wanting the county to hold them up to 48 hours after the person has been released by the court.
"We are not an ICE detention facility. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office only honors valid criminal detainers issued by a court of competent jurisdiction. ICE is notified in advance of someone on their list being released. ICE always has the option to seek a criminal warrant pursuant to federal law," Durant said.
Durant said the sheriff's office acts according to the powers and duties set forth under the Ohio Constitution and the Ohio Revised Code. She said detaining people subject only to a non-criminal warrant implicates the Fourth Amendment.
It is not clear if the PAC ever followed up on the four-year old press release, which was published in 2020, to fact check the ultimate fate of the three men.
ICE told WOSU the county sheriff did comply with a second detainer request for Vazquez-Sanchez lodged by the agency in Dec. 2021. Vazquez-Sanchez was transferred to ICE custody following his prison sentence and ICE's Detroit office deported him to Mexico on Jan. 14, 2022.
The PAC did not say why it chose Soto-Moreno as an example, when there were several other names put on the 2020 ICE press release it could have used instead. The PAC and ICE also put Soto-Moreno's surname in the wrong order.
Moreno's campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the PAC's use of an immigrant that shares his name. Moreno himself is an immigrant from Colombia.
Columbus's policies align with other cities that call themselves "sanctuary cities"
One of the ad's central claims is that Columbus is a sanctuary city. That claim is mostly true since the city has policies that track closely with cities that claim that title.
Back in 2017, many cities began enacting policies designed to shield immigrants from being treated differently by the law compared to U.S. citizens. Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther told WOSU he enacted an executive order in 2017 that declared four points:
- Columbus welcomes refugees and immigrants.
- The city will not use city offices or employees to detain people solely based on their immigration status.
- The city will offer the same services to immigrants and refugees that are offered to all residents.
- And the city will vigorously oppose any effort to require the use of local taxpayer resources for the enforcement of federal immigration policy
"The city of Columbus is welcoming to all. The vast majority of our neighbors, including my wife, they weren't born here. They came to Columbus for jobs, for opportunity, for education, and they stayed and built a life," Ginther said.
Ginther said Columbus police do not discriminate against people based on their immigration status, but will hold people accountable if they commit a crime.
"If you commit crimes in the city of Columbus, you will be held accountable. And it doesn't matter where you were born or what your status is," Ginther said.
Durant said Columbus' policies do not impact the county's decision-making.
"The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office does not consider issues pertaining to the characterization of the City of Columbus as a sanctuary city in carrying out the office’s lawful duties," Durant said.
Ginther said immigrants are propelling the city's and the region's growth in positive and meaningful ways. He pointed to Columbus' growth and said without immigrants, the population of Ohio probably would have shrunk.
Ginther also pointed out immigrants in Columbus and Franklin County paid $712 million in state and local taxes.
Ginther said he isn't surprised an ad like this is playing since a general election is near. He said he is confident people in Ohio will suss out inaccurate ads.
"I believe that the people of this community and the voters of this campaign state are pretty smart. And they know when they see a misleading and inaccurate ad, particularly when it's called out by independent members in the press and the media as false and misleading," Ginther said.
This ad aired as tension in Ohio over immigration was starting to boil over in Springfield. In that city, 40 miles away from Columbus, the population of Haitian immigrants arriving legally through refugee status has been mired in controversy.
Attacks against the Haitian population and bomb threats have struck the city due to false statements against the Haitian population. This was perpetuated by former President Donald Trump, Ohio U.S. Senator J.D. Vance and Moreno.
Ginther said it is important leaders push back against misleading ads.
"Governor (Mike DeWine) said this is garbage that's out there. And it's our job as Republicans and independents and Democrats to all speak truth. And when there is misinformation and bad information, lies, garbage. We all collectively need to call it as it is and ensure support for safety, stability and security in our communities," Ginther said.
Who is One Nation PAC?
One Nation PAC did not respond to questions about the false claims and declined an interview with WOSU. The PAC did send the 2020 ICE press release and several news articles that have called Columbus a sanctuary city.
The PAC did not respond when presented with the court records showing the three immigrants were put through proper court proceedings before being sentenced to prison and later deported.
The ad ran for nine days, from Aug. 24 to Sept. 2, according to Google's ad transparency website. The group made multiple purchases for the ad, spending around $100,000 for each buy.
According to Google, the ad was shown more than 20 million times.
The PAC also financed similar ads across the U.S. in other states seen as competitive like Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin.
The dark money PAC is run by CEO Steven Law, who is also the president of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund Super PAC. Unlike McConnell's PAC, One Nation is a 501(c)4, also known as a dark money group. Nonprofits like this do not have to disclose their donors and do not report to the Federal Elections Commission for things like fundraising and spending.
Brown's campaign criticized Moreno in a statement about opposing a bipartisan border bill proposed in the senate that Republicans opposed due to Trump's opposition.
"While Bernie Moreno opposed the strongest border deal in decades, Sherrod voted for the deal, has always supported deporting violent criminals, and worked with Republicans to pass legislation to keep Ohioans safe from dangerous fentanyl by cracking down on the drug cartels in Mexico," the statement said.
The campaign accused Moreno and his allies of lying.
"Bernie Moreno and his special interest allies are lying about (Brown) because they know he will always do what’s right for Ohio while Moreno only looks out for himself," the statement said.
Moreno's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
