Gov. Mike Huckabee has a definite flair for infuriating people by refusing to adhere to a rigid party line.
That's one of the things we appreciate most about him, although we still have our disagreements.
This talent was most recently displayed when Huckabee weighed in on the recent immigration raid on an Arkadelphia poultry plant.
The raid netted 119 people who were working at the plant and had bought fake IDs from a former worker. Most, if not all, of those arrested in the raid have since been deported.
In a simplistic world of bumper-sticker politics the arrest and deportation of 119 illegal immigrants would be non-controversial. No one -- including the governor -- endorses law-breaking.
But in the real world there are all too often complications. There are added considerations that go beyond the simple formula of "They broke the law so they should be arrested and deported."
In this case there were some 30 complications. About 30 children were left in limbo when one or both of their parents were arrested without warning and removed from the country.
Huckabee thought those children, some of whom are U.S. citizens by birth, deserved more consideration. He went beyond just saying so and directed the state Health Department and the Department of Human Services to provide whatever assistance they can to these children. Huckabee also released $1,000 from his emergency fund to buy food, clothing and even school supplies for the children.
That brought the wrath of the righteous down on the governor. Jim Harris, a spokesman for Huckabee, said the office has been getting calls from as far away as California from people irate over the governor's supposed coddling of illegal residents.
But that's not what this is about. Huckabee has never suggested that those 119 people shouldn't have been arrested and dealt with according to the law. What he has said, and we agree with him here, is that the arrests and deportations could have been better coordinated between federal, state and local agencies and that the interests of the children could and should have been taken into account. There was no urgency, nothing to justify separating these families this way. That's what this is about and to his credit that's what Huckabee, and not his cranky callers, understands.
“There are added considerations that go beyond the simple formula of “They broke the law so they should be arrested and deported.” “
This is the thin end of the wedge that the “enlightened” use in most every situation to foist their policies upon an unsuspecting and gullible public. It’s for the children, naturally.
Public policy, once subjugated to personal private (And in some cases religious) ethics, rapidly degenerates into a toxic brew of government mandated altruism and preening savior demagogues. Being the adult is never easy, but it is necessary.
NO MORE “COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATIVES”. NO MORE LIBERALS DRESSED UP IN PSEUDO FISICAL RESPONSIBILITY.
dano1 you are piece of work. An article is posted where your boy wants to give illegals in-state tuition. you bust out article where illegals children were left here. Here is what I would’ve done” We are deeply sorry that some children were left, so we have reunited these childrens with their parents in MEXICO”
How does the article you posted in any way refute or answer for the video of Huckabee, on the floor of the Arkansas legislature during his State of the State address in 2005, proposing that the legislature give college scholarships and in-state tuition to illegal aliens??