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Hutchinson focuses campaign on illegal immigration issues


By ANDREW DeMILLO


LITTLE ROCK - Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson on Thursday focused his campaign on illegal immigration and said prisons should verify the immigration status of all inmates before release.

Hutchinson, who as a federal Homeland Security official oversaw border security, detailed several steps he said the state could take to fight illegal immigration.

"There are still too many who say that immigration is a federal matter only, and that states have no role in enforcing our laws," Hutchinson said. "That's an old way of thinking, and one that simply isn't acceptable anymore."

Hutchinson, who also is a former congressman, faces Democratic Attorney General Mike Beebe in the Nov. 7 election.

Hutchinson announced the proposals at the Springdale Police Department earlier Thursday. In an interview with The Associated Press, he said his proposals were partly driven by President Bush's push for immigration reform.

"The president sent the signal that there's more that needs to be done and that there's a role to be played by the states," Hutchinson said. "That really is consistent with what I'm saying today."

Hutchinson said the state should take part in an agreement with the federal Department of Homeland Security that would hand over some authority for enforcing immigration law to state police. Hutchinson, who backed the agreements while at Homeland Security, said states such as Florida and Alabama already have entered into these arrangements.

Hutchinson said the agreement would give local and state police additional training and said it wouldn't distract them from their other responsibilities.

"It's a resource to them. It's not a burden," Hutchinson said. "This is not a heavy-handed mandate from the state to local governments."

Hutchinson said he would also push for legislation to have prisons "make every reasonable effort" to verify the residency status of inmates to find any potential illegal immigrants. Hutchinson said under his proposal, local police would be trained on how to access the federal Law Enforcement Support Center. Such a check would take a short period of time and would not create a backlog in prisons, he said.

"We want to make sure they're not going to be releasing someone who's violating our immigration laws," Hutchinson said.

In addition, he recommended that the state police create a full-time investigator position to look into document fraud and that state agencies, contractors and subcontractors be required to verify the legal status of all new employees.

Hutchinson said he did not know how much the proposals would cost the state.

Hutchinson has faced criticism from Beebe and other state Democratic leaders who say the former Homeland Security undersecretary in charge of borders and transportation failed in his nearly two years at the department to curb illegal immigration.

Hutchinson defended his work and said progress was made on several fronts.

A call to Beebe's campaign was not immediately returned Thursday.

Hutchinson's plan did not include a proposal to prohibit state services for illegal immigrants, a measure that has been backed by fellow Republican and lieutenant governor nominee Jim Holt, a state senator from Springdale.

Hutchinson said his push on immigration was not a response to Holt's measures.

"My approach to that problem is first from an enforcement standpoint," Hutchinson said.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)