As your constituent and resident of New Jersey, I urge you to denounce your ad entitled “Sanctuary” and pull it immediately. As our political discourse continues to devolve and polarize the nation we hold dear, I am disappointed to see your campaign engage in antics that seek to further divide our state.

Home to Ellis Island, New Jersey is among the most diverse states in the nation, where more than one in five New Jersey voters are immigrants or children of immigrants. Your ad’s attempt to dehumanize immigrants and cast them as violent criminals - because of the bad actions of one man - is antithetical to New Jersey values, and begs the question of whether you intend on representing all New Jerseyans, regardless of ethnicity, should you get elected.

With all that is going on in the national political landscape, it is disappointing to see that you would double down on the hateful and divisive rhetoric championed by Donald Trump. Your ad is fanning the flames of racism for your own political benefit.

We, the undersigned, refuse to let hate stand in our state. History has shown us that scapegoating tactics that unfairly paint communities with a broad and hateful brush lead to divisions and even acts of violence.