Omaha, Ne. The mayor's race has taken an unexpected twist.

The fight between Hal Daub and Jim Suttle finds people who can't even vote front and center.

A campaign that's been about crime, taxes, and pensions, has a brand new issue: illegal immigration.

It surfaced at a recent neighborhood meeting, when Suttle was asked what role local government should take when it comes to illegal immigration. Suttle said, "We need to go to the source of the problem and quit making criminals out of the companies, quit making criminals out of people, however they might come across the border."

Suttle's response was recorded on a home video camera, which Suttle says he never saw.

Asked about Suttle's response Daub's campaign manager Brinker Harding told Action 3 News, "Hal Daub thinks we should enforce all the laws of the land." Harding adding, "I question why Jim Suttle wouldn't want to enforce federal laws against those who come here and commit violent crimes."

Action 3 News asked Suttle for an on camera interview on all this, but Suttle refused, saying this is not a city issue.

Harding says it is city issue, and would like Suttle to, "explain why he thinks it isn't."

It's not clear what impact this issue will have in the race, but illegal immigration has been a game changer at least once before in Nebraska. 

Three years ago Governor Dave Heineman painted Tom Osborne as soft on illegal immigration, helping Heineman win a race many thought he'd never win.

Reported by Joe Jordan, joe@action3news.com