Thread: MT - House candidate denies racism in illegal immigration comments

2 hours 32 minutes ago by David Jay - MTN News



LAVINA - A candidate for Congress had a chance to speak, a day after the Yellowstone County Republicans asked him not to speak at their Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner, Saturday night.

The Yellowstone County GOP kept Turiano away from its event, because it considered Turiano's comments about illegal immigration racist.

The Golden Valley County Republicans let Turiano speak at its function Sunday afternoon at the Lavina Senior Citizens Center.

Turiano talked about illegal immigration, as well as federal spending and his conservative Christian values.

The chair of the Golden Valley GOP, Nancy Clark, said as long as candidates are respectful and present in a manner that is acceptable, they're allowed to talk.

In November, Turiano said he favored returning illegal aliens to their home country.

He referred to a program called "Operation Wetback" that dealt with illegal immigration in the 1950's during the Eisenhower administration.

Turiano says he is not a racist.

"It wasn't meant to be malicious toward any group," Turiano said. "That's not who I am. I love all people. I love black people, Hispanic people Asian people, Mexican people. I love everybody. And for them to insinuate that it was somehow a racist connotation. There was nothing racist about it. It was just referring to the 1950's President Eisenhower administration immigration policy, that he named."

Yellowstone County Republican Chair Jennifer Owen said the Lincoln-Reagan dinner "is not a platform for hate and intolerance."

Turiano said he attended the Lincoln-Reagan Dinner in Townsend last month.

However, he said he has been uninvited to House candidate debate at Montana State University in Bozeman, March 24th.

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Hispanic is not a race and not all illegals are Hispanic.