A little explanation may be in Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s near future.
Just this past Sunday, the Republican governor who has attempted to bring Arizona-style immigration laws to Mississippi, was telling Fox News that his record as a lobbyist, politician, and lawyer would make him a good candidate for president, but what he just happened to leave out is that he has a history of attempting to pass that that he and many of his colleagues would now call “Amnesty” for undocumented immigrants.
Back in 2001, Barbour was asked by The Embassy of Mexico to work on legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for foreigners living without documentation in the U.S.
In a filing, it was stated that Barbour’s work on such legislation would include “building support in the legislative branch for passage of a bill related to Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
Time pointed out that, “at the time, Mexico was seeking an extension of a provision that allowed undocumented immigrants living in the United States to receive legal visas or green cards without returning to their country of origin, provided they pay an additional fine.”
And since then, Barbour has maintained his support of the creation of a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
So while he claims he’d be a good candidate for president, the fact that he chose to leave out his lobbying for Mexico and undocumented immigrants during his Fox News stint could hurt him in the Republican primaries, should he choose to run. Though, Barbour has been sending mixed messages already anyway.
While he has expressed immense gratitude for the Latino help his state received after Hurricane Katrina, he has also stated that he does not find it unreasonable for local law enforcement to ask anyone they suspect of being an undocumented immigrant for proof of legal status—part of Arizona’s controversial immigration law.
