An Ohio Senate campaign advertisement released by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) attempts to hold former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown accountable for an April interstate crash in which an immigrant has been charged with vehicular homicide. However, an analysis of the claims shows no factual link between Brown’s legislative record on immigration and the individual involved in the tragic collision.
The ad, which began airing this month on streaming platforms, features footage of a border wall alongside images of Brown and former President Joe Biden. An announcer declares, “Sherrod Brown opened our borders to dangerous illegals,” before concluding that “Ohioans paid the price.”
While the commercial aims to establish a direct causal link between federal policies and a violent crime, the connection is weak and misleading. According to the Ohio Department of Public Safety (DPS), the suspect—Modou Ngom—entered the United States sometime in the 1990s, though the exact circumstances and port of entry remain unclear. State records indicate that Ngom subsequently used multiple aliases and birth dates to secure an Ohio driver’s license in 2003, a commercial driver’s license in 2007, and U.S. citizenship in the mid-2010s under an alternate identity, later reverting to the name Modou Ngom in 2015.
The fatal crash occurred on April 11 in Delaware County, Ohio, when a semi-truck driven by Ngom rear-ended a vehicle, triggering a multi-car pileup and fire. The collision resulted in the deaths of a family of three: Luke Soposki, 37, Lynnea Soposki, 36, and their 1-year-old child. Ngom now faces multiple counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular assault. Following an investigation, state authorities turned their findings over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), prompting Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno to demand a federal inquiry into Ngom’s immigration and naturalization history.
When pressed for evidence tying Brown to the incident, an NRSC spokesperson pointed to Brown’s past votes on immigration legislation, accusing him of supporting “open border policies” and voting to protect individuals like Ngom from deportation.
A review of the legislative votes cited by the NRSC reveals significant flaws in this argument:
- The 1996 Immigration Bill: For any legislation to have prevented Ngom from entering the country in the 1990s, it would have had to pass before his arrival. While Brown initially voted against a standalone 1996 immigration reform bill, that measure was ultimately incorporated into a broader omnibus appropriations bill that Brown voted in favor of. Consequently, his initial vote had no impact on the final outcome. Furthermore, detailed information regarding Ngom’s early entry is sparse, making it impossible to determine how the legislation would have affected him.
- The 2019 Sanctuary City Legislation: The NRSC highlighted Brown’s co-sponsorship of a 2019 bill that sought to repeal a Trump administration executive order prioritizing the deportation of undocumented immigrants with criminal records and withholding grants from “sanctuary” jurisdictions. However, that bill never received a vote in Congress and failed to become law.
- The 2021 Budget Amendment: Another vote cited was Brown’s opposition to a 2021 Senate budget amendment aimed at increasing ICE resources for detaining and deporting undocumented individuals with criminal convictions. The amendment passed regardless of his vote, and it remains unclear whether it would have applied to Ngom, who reportedly attained citizenship prior to this period and had no documented criminal convictions at that time.
- Opposition to Border Wall Funding: The NRSC also pointed to Brown’s opposition to former President Donald Trump’s border wall funding, though these votes occurred long after Ngom had already entered the country and acquired citizenship.
In response to the ad, the Brown campaign defended his record by highlighting his support for bipartisan border security measures, including a failed 2024 border security bill endorsed by the Border Patrol union, a 2023 Democratic appropriations bill, and his role as an original co-sponsor of the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, which was enacted into law in 2024.
During an interview in April with a Youngstown TV station, Brown addressed his immigration stance, stating, “I support closing the border to people that, so they just can’t cross the border at will… We of course should be deporting people that have committed a crime. But we’ve also seen these mass arrests and deportations that are disrupting families who are here working every day paying taxes.”
Ultimately, while voters may debate immigration philosophies and legislative histories, the NRSC ad’s attempt to connect Brown’s past votes to the tragic actions of Modou Ngom is unsupported by the facts.