Health care executive Rick Scott, leading in the polls over Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, said that he made a financial contribution to the state of Arizonas legal defense fund to fend off a lawsuit from the federal government over new state immigration laws -- and urged Floridians to do likewise.
I urge people across Florida to join me in supporting Arizonas defense of their immigration law, said Scott on Friday. Governor Brewer is simply trying to do the job that the federal government refuses to do: securing the border and taking a firm stand on illegal immigration.
Earlier in the week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government would sue Arizona over the states new laws, saying they violated civil rights.
Scott used the opportunity on Friday to attack President Barack Obama for failing to secure the border.
When I am governor, I will bring the Arizona law to Florida. Until I can help make that possible, we need to stand with Arizona in their case against the Obama administration, said Scott. President Obama would rather punish law-abiding citizens who advocate enforcement of the law than punish those who choose to break it.
Scott, who had challenged the president on health care last year, blasted Obamas immigration policies, saying that the administration was pointing fingers at businesses over illegal immigration instead of acknowledging the responsibility of the federal government.
President Obama doesnt seem to understand our borders are not secure and they certainly are not safe, said Scott. Instead of promising to immediately provide all the necessary resources to secure the border, he would rather promote amnesty and blame employers for the federal governments failure.
This just goes to show that the Obama administration is out of touch and people realize they are failing in their responsibility to secure our borders, said Scott. The federal government needs to focus on immigration, not litigation.
The Scott campaign has been very critical of McCollums stance on immigration, saying that its GOP rival has ignored the issue and is only paying attention to it now since he is currently trailing in the polls.
McCollum attacked the federal government for suing Arizona over the new state laws on Tuesday when Holder announced the lawsuit.
Instead of challenging the Arizona law, the Obama administrations time would be better spent by providing more resources and securing our Southern border, said McCollum. If the federal government were to do more to enforce existing immigration laws, states like Arizona and Florida would not have to compensate for its shortcomings.
