Trump’s new immigration ad was panned as racist. Turns out it was also based on a falsehood.

Luis Bracamontes smiles at the audience in Sacramento Superior Court on Feb. 9 as the verdict was read in the killing of two law enforcement officers. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli, AP

The expletive-filled advertisement President Trump released this week, seemingly to raise fears about immigration in advance of the midterm elections, was widely denounced, with Democrats and even some Republicans criticizing it as racist.

But beyond the outrage, the ad was also reportedly based on a falsehood.

The 53-second video, shared by the president on Twitter, focuses on the courtroom behavior of Luis Bracamontes, an undocumented immigrant who was convicted of killing two sheriff’s deputies in California in 2014 — and repeatedly bragged about the slayings during his trial.

View the complete November 2 article by Eli Rosenberg on The Washington Post website here.