Best-selling author says Huckabee's tough talk on immigration doesn't match his record

An investigative journalist and author says Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's recently released plan for strong border enforcement does not jive with his record as governor.

The former Arkansas governor proposes to stop illegal immigration with a border fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, more Border Patrol agents, and a policy that forces illegal aliens to return home before they can re-enter the U.S. legally. While this new tough stance has convinced Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist to endorse Huckabee, best-selling author Jerome Corsi says it does not match Huckabee's actions as governor.

"Huckabee has the same problem on immigration that Mitt Romney has -- and that is Mitt Romney and Huckabee, as governors, do not have a strong secure border record. And Huckabee's record is terrible," Corsi points out.

Corsi is highly critical of Huckabee for giving then Mexican President Vicente Fox what he calls a "sweetheart deal" to locate a Mexican consulate in Little Rock. (See earlier article) According to the highly acclaimed writer, the consulate deal is basically a calling card for illegal immigrants who are searching for a sanctuary state. Taking that into consideration, he says he doubts Huckabee would really crack down on illegal immigration if elected president.

This was from a post by Ingtar last night..... Please find below a special message from MinutemanHQ.com. They have some important information to share with you. No National Minuteman Group has endorsed Mike Huckabee. One individual Minuteman has personally endorsed him. For the sake of clarity, it is important to note that the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), the nation’s largest Minuteman organization, is a 501(C)4 non-profit organization and cannot and does not endorse any candidate for public office. MCDC is not associated with Mr. Jim Gilchrist, who today endorsed Mike Huckabee for president. Jim Gilchristâ€™s erstwhile Minuteman Project is itself an organization which by its own representations as a non-profit civic group cannot legally endorse candidates. It does not have any volunteers who observe illegal border activity. It has no border fence building projects. Jim Gilchrist here speaks only for Jim Gilchrist, he does not speak for the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, nor is he nationally representative of most patriots in the “Minuteman movement” â€“ who under no circumstances could ignore the failed record nor endorse the duplicitous â€œplanâ€ recently rolled out by candidate Mike Huckabee. The national media needs to recognize that Jim Gilchristâ€™s endorsement is his own personal statement, nothing more. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps emphasizes policy dealing with national border security. The only “plan” to ensure border security that is acceptable to our constituency would be a candidate policy statement declaring that his first act as President will be to hold a press conference and announce to the American people an executive order to immediately deploy and fund 30,000 National Guard personnel to the U.S. Borders (25,000 to the southern border and 5,000 to the northern border) to complement a massive increase in U.S. Border Patrol Agent field personnel, and a bilateral effort to secure our frontiers, smash the drug cartels, shut down the human smugglers and protect the public safety of the citizens who reside along the borders on both sides of our national boundaries. Unlike this last-minute opportunism attempted by Huckabee, many of the other GOP presidential candidates have actually helped push the issue of national border security forward for some time. ... Sincerely for these United States, Chris Simcox, President Minuteman Civil Defense Corps

Whoops, before anyone says it, I know, Preview and Paragraphs are our friends!

Please find below a special message from MinutemanHQ.com. They have some important information to share with you.

No National Minuteman Group has endorsed Mike Huckabee.

One individual Minuteman has personally endorsed him.

For the sake of clarity, it is important to note that the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), the nation’s largest Minuteman organization, is a 501(C)4 non-profit organization and cannot and does not endorse any candidate for public office. MCDC is not associated with Mr. Jim Gilchrist, who today endorsed Mike Huckabee for president.

Jim Gilchristâ€™s erstwhile Minuteman Project is itself an organization which by its own representations as a non-profit civic group cannot legally endorse candidates. It does not have any volunteers who observe illegal border activity. It has no border fence building projects. Jim Gilchrist here speaks only for Jim Gilchrist, he does not speak for the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, nor is he nationally representative of most patriots in the “Minuteman movement” â€“ who under no circumstances could ignore the failed record nor endorse the duplicitous â€œplanâ€ recently rolled out by candidate Mike Huckabee. The national media needs to recognize that Jim Gilchristâ€™s endorsement is his own personal statement, nothing more.

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps emphasizes policy dealing with national border security. The only “plan” to ensure border security that is acceptable to our constituency would be a candidate policy statement declaring that his first act as President will be to hold a press conference and announce to the American people an executive order to immediately deploy and fund 30,000 National Guard personnel to the U.S. Borders (25,000 to the southern border and 5,000 to the northern border) to complement a massive increase in U.S. Border Patrol Agent field personnel, and a bilateral effort to secure our frontiers, smash the drug cartels, shut down the human smugglers and protect the public safety of the citizens who reside along the borders on both sides of our national boundaries.

Unlike this last-minute opportunism attempted by Huckabee, many of the other GOP presidential candidates have actually helped push the issue of national border security forward for some time. ...

Sincerely for these United States,

Chris Simcox, President
Minuteman Civil Defense Corps

Legality of Huckabee's Mexican consulate deal questioned

Critics say Arkansas citizens, businesses financed office to draw illegal workers

November 1, 2007 - By Jerome R. Corsi - WorldNetDaily.com

Financial inducements arranged by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to establish a Mexican consular office in Little Rock may have violated state law, according to an Arkansas attorney. As WND reported yesterday, critics in Arkansas charge Huckabee, who lately has enjoyed a surge in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, worked with some of the state's most prominent and politically powerful businesses to establish the consulate as a magnet for drawing illegal immigrants to the state to accept low-paying jobs. Huckabee, in an interview with WND, strongly denied the allegations.

Arkansas attorney Chip Sexton provided WND a written legal brief arguing the state government's sublease to Mexico of office space for the consulate was illegal under Arkansas law. Sexton contended the deal raised questions about the appropriateness of private citizens and corporations in Arkansas providing financial incentives for the government of Mexico to locate a consulate office in Little Rock.

"This arrangement to bring a Mexican consulate to Little Rock and the manner in which it occurred amounts to a 'consul-gate,'" Sexton told WND. "I'm an Arkansas citizen, why doesn't the state lease me some property and furniture for $1 per year?"

Robert Trevino, commissioner of Arkansas Rehabilitation Services, told WND he and Huckabee helped arrange state and private financial support to induce Mexico to establish the consulate as a business development "quid pro quo."

Trevino signed on July 7, 2006, a "Facilities Use Agreement" with Mexican consular officials to rent state government office space for $1 a year on the second floor of the Arkansas Rehabilitation Services building at 26 Corporate Hills in Little Rock. Sexton points to Arkansas law, which appears to prohibit state agencies, including Arkansas Rehabilitation Services, from sub-leasing government space.

Ark. Code Ann. § 22-2-114(C)(i) provides: "After July 1, 1975, no state agency shall enter into or renew or otherwise negotiate a lease between itself as lessor or lessee and a nongovernmental or other government lessor or lessee."

"Even more offensive, there was nothing in the lease or other agreements that would have prevented the Mexican consulate from providing legal assistance to illegal aliens," Sexton told WND. "We have information that the Mexican consulate operating out of the Arkansas Rehabilitation Facility was providing legal assistance even to Mexican illegal aliens who were accused of committing violent crimes in Arkansas."

Trevino emphasized: "It never was our intent to get involved in the immigration issue or to aid illegal immigration, that's a federal issue. Our interest and emphasis was and is strictly business development." He pointed to the many Arkansas companies, including Wal-Mart and Tyson Foods, that "do a good deal of business in Mexico," "So the more we can facilitate better trade with that country for our companies located here in Arkansas, we have a duty to do that as officials," he said.

Arkansas attorney Sexton disagreed, insisting, "This whole scheme to get a Mexican consulate to locate in Little Rock appears to be nothing more than a veiled invitation for illegal immigrants to come to Arkansas to work for the Arkansas corporations who want cheap labor." "The package is enhanced by social welfare benefits provided by the state of Arkansas and financing assistance to support the Mexican consulate's presence in the state," Sexton said.

Trevino confirmed he was state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, also known as LULAC, an activist group strongly advocating for rights of Hispanic immigrants in the U.S., when on Oct. 3, 2003, he accompanied Huckabee in a state airplane to visit Fox in Mexico. In 2003, Trevino was Huckabee's economic development policy adviser. In October 2005, Trevino was appointed by Huckabee to his current position as commissioner of Arkansas Rehabilitation Services.

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