2004: Mike Huckabee promotes benefits of illegal immigration

On July 6, 2004 Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee - currently a presidential contender - spoke on his monthly radio show and, responding to a caller's question about illegal aliens, said the following:

"If they're illegal they're not about to show up at some public institution and say I'd like funds because when they do the I.D. check and find out they're illegal then they're in trouble... [quotes a study purportedly showing that illegal aliens contribute more than they take...] So these are not the people who are accessing welfare, food stamps because they're not eligible for them. They can't get them... They're purchasing things and paying sales tax... They're buying things. They're paying taxes but they're not getting the benefits of a taxpayer. Not Social Security, not food stamps, welfare, benefits from employers... The truth is the illegal aliens are costing themselves more by being illegal when the real goal ought to be to give people the opportunity to become legal, naturalized citizens of the United States."

The article then adds: Huckabee emphasized that he was not justifying illegal immigration. Obviously, he did, and we don't have to look too far to get one idea why that might be.

Needless to say, a tape of this show would be very useful.

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Politics · Mon, 10/22/2007 - 13:10 · · Importance: 1