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AP Photo Cruz campaign asks stations to stop airing anti-Cruz ad

Ted Cruz's campaign sent a letter to TV stations across South Carolina and Georgia on Tuesday, demanding that they stop airing what it calls "a false attack ad" from the conservative super PAC American Future Fund that goes after the Texas senator on national security.

"The ad falsely claims 'Cruz proposed mass legalization of illegal immigrants.' Ted Cruz has never introduced, outlined, or supported any policy that would give legal status to illegal immigrants," wrote Eric Brown, general counsel to the campaign, in the letter shared with the media. "Indeed, quite the opposite, Ted Cruz led the fight in Congress against legislation written by Senator Rubio, among others, that created legal permanent status for millions of people in the country unlawfully. At least two fact-checks have evaluated this claim and determined it to be false, and others found no evidence to support it.”

American Future Fund has spent heavily against Cruz in Iowa and in South Carolina, painting the senator in the latest spot as soft on immigration enforcement and "weak" on national security, including by tying him to Bernie Sanders and President Barack Obama. POLITICO reported last week that the group, which is overseen by veteran GOP operative Nick Ryan, is spending $1.5 million on broadcast and cable stations through Saturday, the day of the Republican primary.

“Cruz proposed mass legalization of illegal immigrants,” the anti-Cruz group's spot says. “He even praised the traitor Edward Snowden. Ted Cruz’s talk is cheap. His national security record is weak.”

In its statement, the Cruz campaign urged the stations to consider their respective statuses as FCC-licensed entities in deciding whether to can the advertisement.

"Because this advertisement makes a flatly false factual claim for which your station is ultimately liable, we strongly urge you to exercise your discretion as a licensee to refuse to continue to broadcast this advertisement, and, because it is already airing, immediately pull the advertisement from your rotation," Brown wrote.

American Future Fund responded with its own letter to stations, calling the Cruz campaign pushback "a meritless attempt to deny the public the opportunity to view and consider an advertisement critical of well-documented, public positions."

“The ad is 100% accurate. Sen. Cruz should be embarrassed by his desperate effort to stifle AFF’s right to speak, rights which are clearly granted in the First Amendment and consistently recognized by the Supreme Court,” said Ryan. “Most ironic today is that Sen. Cruz is holding a press conference chastising Donald Trump for sending him the same letter that Cruz sent to us. His campaign is clearly unraveling and he is desperately lashing out. He looks like just another typical politician.”