GOP Supports Immigration Enforcement Training
Last updated Saturday, July 26, 2008 9:02 PM CDT in News
By The Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas Republicans on Saturday amended the state party's platform to include support for training of Arkansas State Police in immigration enforcement and the repeal of the 3-cent state sales tax on groceries.

Delegates at the party's state convention agreed to a platform plank "permitting the Arkansas State Police to be trained in immigration enforcement practices allowed under current federal law," the party said in a news release.

In Northwest Arkansas, four police agencies have signed agreements with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement giving the local agencies the power to make immigration arrests and run their own investigations.

Arkansas State Police and federal officials this year agreed state troopers will be trained by federal agents to detect forged identity documents carried by suspected illegal immigrants, but will not have the power to arrest them for being in the country.

The GOP support of the tax repeal comes at a time when Arkansas' economy is not in as good a shape as it was last year when the Legislature reduced the 6-cent sales tax on food by half. The $121 million cut in the sales tax on groceries went into effect July 1, 2007. It was Arkansas' largest tax cut ever.

However, Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, has said he also would eventually like to eliminate the rest of the grocery tax.


In addition Saturday, the delegates reaffirmed the party's support of anti-abortion legislation, protection of gun rights, lowering taxes, and protection of private property rights.

They certified the Republican Party of Arkansas' slate of candidates for the Nov. 4 election ballot and certified members to the Electoral College, including former Gov. Mike Huckabee and former National Transportation Safety Board chairman Jim Burnett.

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