Report: Hutchinson Leaving Homeland Post

Associated Press via Great Falls Tribune ^ | January 24, 2005 | Associated Press Newswire

[BigSkyFreeper]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Asa Hutchinson told a newspaper he plans to resign his post with the Homeland Security Department on Monday after he was passed over twice by the Bush administration to be secretary of the department.

Hutchinson, a former Arkansas congressman and former federal drug czar, is the undersecretary for border and transportation security issues. He said his resignation would be effective March 1 to allow a more seamless transition when secretary-designate Michael Chertoff takes over the department from Tom Ridge.

"It was just a good time to change for me personally and for the department," Hutchinson told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

President Bush announced on Jan. 12 that Chertoff, a federal appeals court judge, was his second nominee to be secretary of the agency. The president's first choice, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, withdrew citing immigration problems with a former nanny.

Hutchinson, 54, has said that he was disappointed that he wasn't selected to be secretary but is excited about other options, including a possible run for Arkansas governor in 2006. But Hutchinson didn't give any definite political plans for the future.

"We'll wait and see," Hutchinson said. "I'm ruling nothing out. I'm taking the decision-making process a step at a time."

Hutchinson served three terms in Congress, representing the state's 3rd Congressional District. He served as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration and then in the Department of Homeland Security.

[billorites]

Never complain, never explain.

[snopercod]

A little difference of opinion with the administration on border security, perhaps?

[starfish923]

A little difference of opinion with the administration on border security, perhaps?

I wouldn't be surprised.

[TomGuy]

undersecretary for border and transportation security issues

And Asa was so proud that he was responsible for sending 300 illegals a month back to Mexico, on air flights.

[jmc813]

Good riddance.

[spodefly]

Will Bush be able to find anyone less effective than Hutchison at handling border issues?

[PhiKapMom]

He wants to run for Senator from AR according to published accounts. He wasn't exactly the #1 person for border enforcement either. Ever stop to think that the President wanted more enforcement not less. I will answer that -- no from your perspective and others on here that always say the worst about the President.

Makes me wonder if some of you (not you in particular) that slam the President so much even live along the border or are just bandwagon jumpers. What do you think a Kerry Administration would have been?

[azhenfud]

That guy was a liability for President Bush's efforts to compromise on any immigration policy - he was the one left holding the gate wide open.

He is to Homeland Security what Paul O'Neill was to the Treasury Department.

[janetgreen]

Will Bush be able to find anyone less effective than Hutchison at handling border issues?

I'm sure that's the plan.

[gubamyster]

ping

[snopercod]

Ever stop to think that the President wanted more enforcement not less?

Well, it's really not up to "what the president wants". He is the chief executive, who's job is to "faithfully execute" the laws passed by congress.

In the case of immigration, the laws are clear, and have been for many years. They're just not being enforced.

Didn't I hear the President swear a few days ago that he would "faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and...to the best of [his]ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States"?

[NRA2BFree]

The lesser of two evils is still evil.

Exactly!! When we are so far down that slippery slope that all we have to chose from is evil and a lesser evil, it is no wonder we are seeing America disintegrate.

[texastoo]

As I understand it, Arkansas is trying to get a prop 200 passed like Arizona. This really has the Mexicans upset.

Go to http://www.el-universal.com.mx

Click on the English version in the left hand corner. The article is about migrants and Arizona. Some of these people are even talking about going to the UN to force Arizona to change the prop 200 law.

[John Jorsett]

Planning to spend more time with his possessions, no doubt. Good riddance, given his wimpish stance on illegal immigration. Although, given the GWB administration's predilections, he'll probably be replaced with someone even more wimpish.

[raybbr]

Ever stop to think that the President wanted more enforcement not less.

Did he ever once publicly call for more enforcement? Did he ever once call for tighter borders? Did he ever once order the Homeland Securtiy department to stop the illegals? Did he ever once commit to the sovereignty of our borders?

Good grief.

[raybbr]

CONFUSION

Still, many Mexicans are confused about the extent of the Arizona rules. In interviews, critics, some of them university professors, mistakenly believed the Arizona law bars undocumented immigrants from sending their children to U.S. schools or receiving emergency medical care.

In fact, Arizona's attorney general says the law only applies to a few programs, including utility assistance, a vision-care plan and grants given to disabled people and their families. Proposition 200 supporters are fighting to get the rules expanded to other programs.

Mexico itself has similar regulations. Here, government agencies require foreigners to present their residential visas when applying for everything from driver's licenses to social security cards.

The Federal Elections Institute requires all Mexicans to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

Mexico deported 201,000 people between January and November 2004, most of them Central Americans. About 9,000 others were denied entry at airports and border points.

However, there is no specific Mexican law requiring officials to report undocumented migrants who try to apply for benefits, or punishing them if they don't comply. And that is what irks Mexicans most about the Arizona statute, García Laguna said.

From the source you linked.

The hypocrisy is unbelievable. And to think that there are many Americans who don't see anything wrong in this.

[texastoo]

Mexico believes in that old saying, "don't do as I do, do as I say do".

Arizona really has the Mexicans upset, don't they? Now Arkansas. It will be interesting to see what kind of stand Hutchinson takes in Arkansas on prop 200.