State Sen. Bill Eigel promised Thursday that if elected governor he’d invoke a provision in the Missouri Constitution allowing him to call out the militia to round up and deport undocumented immigrants.
That means mobilizing sheriffs, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the National Guard, Eigel told a crowd of about 175 party faithful at the Boone County Lincoln Days event in Columbia.
“I’m also the only candidate for governor that’s gonna go after every one of the 50,000 to 70,000 illegal immigrants that are bringing crime into our community,” Eigel said, later adding: “And if I have to drive the buses myself to the border of this country, we’re going to take our state back, folks.”
Eigel, a Weldon Spring lawmaker who is one of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for governor, is trying to stake out the most strident position on immigration, an issue dominating GOP politics. His rhetoric Thursday was echoed by one of his rivals for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who when asked about the idea during an interview following the event said “until we stop the invasion, we can’t deal with the problem effectively.”
Ashcroft said he, too, would declare the influx of immigrants an invasion.
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a candidate for governor, speaks Thursday evening at the Boone County Republican Lincoln Days dinner in Columbia (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent).
The other major Republican candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, did not attend Thursday’s party gathering.
Contacted by email, his spokesman did not address questions about whether it was proper to declare an invasion of Missouri or to order mass removal, instead boasting about Kehoe’s trip to the Mexican border with members of state national guard.
“Mike Kehoe takes action from the front-lines, not from behind a keyboard and Twitter account,” said Michael Hafner, a spokesman for Kehoe’s campaign.
Kehoe is visiting the approximately 250 National Guard soldiers already in Texas operating under federal orders. Gov. Mike Parson has ordered 200 soldiers and 11 Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers to work with Texas law enforcement at the request of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Parson has asked lawmakers for $2.2 million to cover the cost.
...story continues at The Missouri Independent
Republished with permission from The Missouri Independent.
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