Huckabee on Trump: ‘I Would Never Besmirch’ Immigrants
TAPPER: “Your party this week has been divided over comments made by one of your fellow candidates, Donald Trump, that he’s made about illegal Mexican immigrants, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, George Pataki all condemning him, Ted Cruz supporting him. Where do you stand on what Donald Trump has been saying?”
HUCKABEE: “Well, honestly, Donald Trump needs no help from Mike Huckabee to get publicity. He’s doing a really good job of that. So, I think what I have been doing is focusing on what my own views of immigration happen to be, rather than weighing in on getting in this battle of, are we with Trump or against Trump? Look, I’m for some reasonable approaches to immigration that start with a secure border. I have committed to get that done within a year. And the reason I say that we would do that, Jake, 73 years ago, we built a 1,700-mile road from British Columbia to Alaska in less than a year. The fact that people say, oh, we can’t secure the border, that’s nonsense. This country can do it if we want to. You just have to have a president who is committed to it.”
TAPPER: “Well, I hear what you’re saying about wanting to focus on your own immigration policy, but a lot of people, a lot of Republicans think that the language Trump is using is damaging to the Republican brand, especially as we approach the 2016 election, where the Latino vote will not be insignificant. Take a listen to this from the 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney.”
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NN FEMALE: “Do you think Donald Trump’s comments on Mexicans have hurt the Republican Party?”
ROMNEY: “Yes. I think he made a severe error in saying what he did about Mexican-Americans. And, you know, it was unfortunate.”
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TAPPER: “So, the question is not just like what he’s saying, but the idea that it bleeds over into the — the brand. As somebody who — I remember covering you in 2008. You did not speak that way about illegal immigrants. In fact, you expressed sympathy for the children of illegal immigrants. Do his comments bother you at all in terms of what they’re doing to the Republican brand?”
HUCKABEE: “Well, I say some things very differently. I say every night, I get on my knees and thank God I’m in a country people are trying to break into, rather than one they’re trying to break out of. My own experience as a governor of Arkansas, with many, many immigrants, not just from Mexico, but from throughout the areas of Central and South America, my experience is that most of them have come for opportunity. They come to help their families, some of the hardest-working people, interestingly, too, Jake -- and I think this is often lost -- some of the most conservative, family-oriented and faith-based people I have ever witnessed. And so are there some people who come with nefarious goals? Yes. That’s why we need to secure the border. That’s why we need to get control of it. But I would never besmirch all the people who come here, because I think, sometimes, we get wrapped up in how many people are coming. The real question is, why are they coming? If they’re coming because they want to be part of the American dream, if they want to come and share our flag, our interests, our language, assimilate into our culture because they believe in what we stand for, you know, then that’s the same reason our ancestors came.”
