GOP candidates for Arizona governor, Karrin Taylor Robson and Kari Lake, make claims of a Mexican immigrant— “invasion”—Robson campaign ad reportedly incorrectly depicts “illegal” crossing without evidence

Gage Skidmore (Flickr)

Karrin Taylor Robson at the Defend America Foundation at the Scottsdale Gun Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Annalisa Toni, Reporter

An ad aired by Karrin Taylor Robson, shows the GOP gubernatorial candidate—an immigration hawk, talking into a camera in a low voice, implying that the video is capturing an illegal border crossing in southern Arizona.

At least one news outlet claims that this depiction is doing no such thing.

Robson is not a reporter, she’s a real estate developer and one of several GOP gubernatorial candidates, and, according to the news outlet—Robson’s campaign ad is reportedly depicting possible disinformation by referring to video footage as an “invasion” into the U.S.

FS1, a subsidiary of Fox Sports would not air the ads until Robson could prove by an affidavit swearing that the migrants shown in the ad were in fact “illegal,” as there were individuals reportedly—not illegal—nor Mexican immigrants.

“Behind me are illegal immigrants that were just dropped off on the Mexico side of the border,” Taylor Robson says in the ad. “And here they are, crossing into America. The invasion is well underway.”

Robson has not returned requests for comment from Northeast Valley News on the ad in question.

Meanwhile, Kari Lake is running on an equally hawkish campaign platform against the “invasion” from Mexican immigrants.

“We’re going to start immediately working to secure our border, finish President Trump’s wall and we’re going to start arresting people and sending them back. We have the ability to protect our own citizens. It’s basically a state’s war powers,” Lake reportedly said in February.

As the only Trump endorsed candidate for Arizona governor, Lake’s talking points and campaign promises center around the infamous Trump wall—and Lake pledging to keep the former president’s promise of the super wall along the Arizona border.

But after 458 miles of barriers Trump’s “powerful wall” has reportedly been breached more than 3,000 times as of last March.

In a March Tweet from Lake’s campaign Twitter account, the candidate tweeted, “When I become Governor, I will send armed National Guard Troops to the border to arrest & detain illegal aliens invading Arizona—then we will send them back. Think I’m bluffing? Just wait.”

The Biden administration is reportedly opting to fund what they refer to as smarter border security and has cancelled remaining border wall funding to focus on updated, more cost-effective resources.

A spokesman for Customs and Border Control, CBP, Luis Miranda, said effective border security “requires a variety of resources and efforts, infrastructure, technology, and personnel.”