John McCain pledges to stop immigration raids? (NCLR convention)

[UPDATE: Thank you, MyDD! After listening to the tape, it turns out that the "We will" in McCain's answer was little more than throat-clearing; the audience is still applauding the question as he says that, then he pauses and says the rest. He is, however, implying that raids will no longer be necessary after reform.]

After speaking at the National Council of La Raza convention, John McCain held a Q&A session. A live-blog of his comments is here: mydd.com/story/2008/7/14/17446/4277, but hopefully an accurate transcript will be provided. But, for now:

Q: "I am ashamed of these raids that are separating children from parents. As president will you stop these inhumane raids?"

A: "We will. With all due respect, you're talking about a symptom of the problem rather than the problem itself."

So, after McCain passes immigration "reform", there will be no more immigration raids? That doesn't square with one of the selling points hacks like McCain have used, that "reform" would include stepped-up enforcement against future illegal immigration. And, since those future illegal aliens would bring children with them or have children once they were here, family separations would continue as they do now.

On the one hand, he could just be telling them what they want to hear. On the other hand - the even worse hand - he might actually believe what he's saying.

He also apparently said he supports the DREAM Act, an anti-American bill that lets foreign citizens who are here illegally take college educations from U.S. citizens. While he's supported that in the past, he dropped his support a few months back. While many of those who claim that McCain has flip-flopped on immigration are lying, that is indeed a flip-flop.

Immigration2008a · Mon, 07/14/2008 - 13:01 · Importance: 1