ROCK HILL, S.C. — Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee called Tuesday for suspending immigration from countries that sponsor or harbor terrorists.
On campaign trail in South Carolina’s Jan. 19 primary, Huckabee sharpened his rhetoric on immigration and embraced a tougher measure than any of his rivals have so far.
“There’s a couple of things we’re going to do differently,” Huckabee told supporters. “I say we ought to put a hiatus on people who come in here . . . if they come from countries that sponsor and harbor terrorists. . . . Every one of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 came here legally. Our government welcomed them in.”
The national commission that studied the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks concluded that at least two of the 19 terrorists and possibly 11 others presented fraudulently altered passports when they entered the United States.
The Associated Press
