Posted on 01/29/2005 7:38:39 PM PST by bayourod
LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Huckabee Thursday denounced a bill by Sen. Jim Holt that would deny state benefits to illegal immigrants as un-Christian, un-American, irresponsible and anti-life.
Holt, R-Springdale, replied later that Christian charity does not include turning a blind eye to lawbreaking.
Senate Bill 206, filed Wednesday, also would require proof of citizenzhip to register to vote and would require state agencies to report suspected cases of people living in the country illegally.
"Somebody needs to ask Sen. Holt what welfare this bill would stop," Huckabee said in a question-and-answer period with reporters on Thursday morning. Many aid programs are state-administered but federally funded and are mandated to be available to people in need, Huckabee said.
Even if benefits to people who are in the U.S illegally could be stopped, "I don't understand how a practicing Christian can turn his back on a child from this or any other state," Huckabee said.
Holt replied, "I think the politically correct movement has misconstrued what compassion really means. They think compassion means that any person can disrespect our laws and that we're supposed to be tolerant and let them get away with it.
"True compassion is correcting them so in the future they can be law-abiding citizens," Holt said.
Holt said he would seek a state attorney general's opinion on what the bill would do if passed. He said he would delay further action on it, at least temporarily, to allow the attorney general to respond.
The bill is modeled after a similar law in Arizona and supported by the newly formed group Protect Arkansas NOW. The group's chairman is Joe McCutchen of Fort Smith. "I know Sen. Holt and Mr. McCutchen say they're pro-life," Huckabee said. "We're trying to preserve the life of someone who, when born, will be an American citizen with his first breath. We can spend $900 on pre-natal care when the mother is pregnant. Instead, this bill would have us take a chance and spend $2,000 a day at Children's hospital if the baby's born and something has gone wrong. That's anti-life."
Huckabee said he took exception to characterization of immigrants in the bill and by its supporters as exploiters of social programs. "They pay sales taxes on their groceries," Huckabee said. "They pay fuel taxes. If they're using a fake Social Security number, they're paying Social Security taxes and will never receive any benefit. It would be closer to the truth to say they're subsidizing Joe McCutchen and Jim Holt more than the other way around.
"Something that's not worth sharing is not worth celebrating," Huckabee said. "This is the kind of country that opens its doors. This bill expresses an un-American attitude."
McCutchen, reached by telephone at his home in Fort Smith, repeated some of Holt's arguments, including the one that the people referred to in Holt's bill are in the United States illegally.
"They broke the law," he said. "My angst is not with them, though. My angst is with the state and federal government for not enforcing our laws."
People living illegally in the United State has "overwhelmed our school and welfare system," McCutchen said. As for whether the bill reflects un-Christian attitudes, McCutchen said: "Jim Holt is as good a man and as good a Christian as any man walking this Earth."
"Doggone it, the rule of law is not being upheld, and that's wrong," McCutchen said.
McCutchen joined Holt in a news conference last week to announce the forming of Protect Arkansas NOW and to discuss plans to file SB 206. Since that news conference Friday on the state Capitol steps, McCutchen was featured on the web page of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks membership and activities of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. One group tracked by the center is the Council of Conservative Citizens, which claimed McCutchen as a member, according to the law center's article. The article is available at: http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp
"To anybody who will listen, I'll make a speech at my own expense," McCutchen said. The CCC "asked me to come up and make a talk on illegal immigration. The talk lasted 15 minutes and I drove myself to Virginia to give it. I financed that thing by myself."
A letter of McCutchen's was reprinted in a magazine owned by the CCC, according to the law center website. "I did buy a list of donors from the American Immigration Council. I sent out a letter to about 200 people telling what I was doing," McCutchen said. "I suppose one of those letters went out to this magazine.
"That was the end of that, I thought," McCutchen said. "I'm just astounded by the attention this has received. CNN (Cable News Network) was at my home Tuesday afternoon. The very next morning, the Southern Poverty Law Center sent this out and the segment on CNN is on hold."
Admin moderator, I could not find the list of copywrite protects. Please check this for me. Thanks.
The Governor is UN-AMERICAN.
This govorner along with the rest of our SO called Representatives must understand that screwing the AMerican Citizen is UN American
What's "un-American" about this, Governor?
The same could be said of abortion. Should we all be quiet now?
Bookmarked. Thanks.
The elite want to let the cheap labor in (and pay off the politicos to do so); the workers and taxpayers want the laws enforced, and to not have to support the crowd that will be competing with them for jobs and social services.
Holt, R-Springdale, replied later that Christian charity does not include turning a blind eye to lawbreaking.
Wanna-be-king Huckabee is clearly FOS.
Mr. Holt acknowledges his responsibility to the truth AND the law, and to the citizens of Arkansas -- who have spoken.
You will have to excuse bayourod. He has absolutely no respect for the law. His "barren border" attitude is only driven by his desire to profit from the illegals and keep the Mexican in a subservant role.
..So Noted.
yup........they've got everyone but the American people
I don't think so.
The President is against abortion
The Cabinet is against abortion
>50 Republican Senators are against abortion
All Republican Congressmen I know of are against abortion .
All Republican Govs I know are against abortion (cept California of course)
Most Democrat officials are for choice, not abortion.
And most importantly, I'm agin abortion.
My 4 Mexican-born U.S. citizen friends in Arizona ALL voted in favor of Proposition 200. They came here legally, played by the rules and paid their dues through tough times to get where they are today. And they are mad as hell at the open-borders "amnesty" crowd.
GROWING in numbers daily! And will continue to grow and get stronger. What is unAmerican are people who refuse to uphold the law who are putting Americans and America in jeopardy thats unAmerican.
Not protecting our borders thats unAmerican!
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