Missouri Democrats charge that Republican United States Senate candidate Roy Blunt hired an illegal immigrant 20 years ago and used his position as Missouri Secretary of State to help her bid for political asylum in the United States. Democrats claim Blunt’s actions then amount to hypocrisy now as Blunt, the candidate, calls for a crackdown on illegal immigration. The Blunt campaign labels the claim desperate, dirty politics.
Democrats held news conferences in Kansas City and St. Louis, releasing letters exchanged between Blunt and Missouri Republican Gene McNary, then a commissioner with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Democrats allege the letters show that Blunt tried to use his position as Secretary of State to expedite the citizenship request of Dora Narvaez, an immigrant from Nicaragua, though they couldn’t point to specific language requesting such a favor.
Narvaez told The Kansas City Star she worked as a housekeeper for the Blunts for six months around 1990. Blunt’s campaign denies she ever did any work for the family, with the exception of helping out at some church events. It insists that any help Blunt might have provided Narvaez was routine constituent service.
