Florida Republican Marg Baker: "Put immigrants in camps, put up high walls, leave them there"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Thursday, Aug 12, 2010 15:39 ET
Florida Republican: Put immigrants in "camps"
By Justin Elliott



In an interview with Salon today, a Republican candidate for the Florida state Legislature stood by her controversial idea to arrest illegal immigrants and send them to "camps" where they can be held en masse.

"We can ship them out to the middle of the country and put up high walls and leave them there," said Marg Baker, the middle-aged real estate broker vying for the Republican nomination in the state's 48th district, north of Tampa.

Baker was filmed advocating the camps idea at a local meeting of the 9-12 Project, Glenn Beck's activist group, earlier this month (watch the clip below). She told Salon today that she was upset at the way some had misinterpreted her comments. "They're trying to think I want to erect some sort of prison camps like over in Germany" -- which she is not, Baker said.

Asked if what she had in mind was more like the Japanese internment camps of the World War II era, Baker said, "something like that. But unfortunately in the Japanese camps they detaineed American citiziens. The only ones I want to detain are the ones who are illegal."

She added, "You've gotta have places for them to eat and sleep and breathe fresh air. It can be a tent city ... You don't want to make them too comfortable or they'll want to come back."

The AP reports that other Republican candidates for the seat have rejected the idea.

Baker's website lists five "reasons" not to tolerate illegal immigrants, including "prostitution."

http://www.salon.com/news/immigration/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/08/12/florida_candidate_put_immigrants_in_camps

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. ah the inner authoritarian

now Keith covered this story tonight and something bugged me. There were indeed Hispanics, even US born, picked up in the 1930s, and deported. She is not that old. She is confusing the Internment Camps, with that. She must have heard at home the stories of that while growing up.

Oh and... she has a few issues. Today it is the BE AFRAID Hispanics, tomorrow will be Jews, Muslims and any other group she fears.

[csziggy]

5. It was done in 1980 to the Mariel Boatlift refugees from Cuba

She's probably thinking of that.

Approximately 125,000 Cubans arrived at the United States' shores in about 1,700 boats, creating large waves of people that overwhelmed the U.S. Coast Guard. Cuban guards packed boat after boat, without considering who the boats were carrying, and without considering weather or lifejacket safety, making some of the overcrowded boats barely seaworthy. 27 migrants died, including 14 on an overloaded boat that capsized on May 17, 1980.

Upon their arrival, many Cubans were placed in refugee camps. Others were held in federal prisons pending deportation hearings.

Crowded conditions in South Florida immigration processing centers forced U.S. federal agencies to move many of the Marielitos to other centers in Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, Camp Santiago, Puerto Rico, and Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. Riots in the Fort Chaffee center were a factor in the re-election defeat of then-Governor Bill Clinton. President Jimmy Carter was also heavily criticized for his handling of the situation.

Some refugees were discovered to be undesirables; for example, criminals or mental patients who'd been released from Cuban prisons or other institutions. The exact number of undesirables that arrived in the boatlift is disputed, with estimates ranging from as low as 7,500 to as high as 40,000. The generally accepted figure comes from a 1991 Congressional report which estimates that roughly 10 percent of the 125,000 refugees, or 12,500 people, were undesirables of this type.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariel_boatlift#The_end

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. You are right she must be thinking of that one

[saltpoint]

2. She's right, of course, on prostitution.

As we all know, there wasn't a HINT of prostitution until those damned immigrants showed up.

[DJ13]

3. What an original idea

[Kerrytravelers]

4. Can we do the same to Republicans?

:sarcasm:

There is no way I would advocate doing to others what they are proposing.

[pinboy3niner]

6. Shhh! Our FEMA camps are almost ready. :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. You forgot OPSEC

back to the training camp with you!

:hi:

[pinboy3niner]

11. Mea culpa! (Damn! This'll be my 4th Obama Re-Ed stint!) :)

:hi:

[ibegurpard]

7. who's going to pay for it?

[Maru Kitteh]

10. I'm sure she would put the white undocumented immigrants in there too.

No - really! She totally would. Because she doesn't have a particular skin color in mind when she talks about prison camps. No sirreee.


BTW, as a designated representative of "the middle of the country" - Fuck You Asshole.

[madmax]

12. Such a lovely woman.

:sarcasm:

[saltpoint]

13. I hate to over-emphasize the practical, but are there

any Hispanic voters in Ms. Baker's district, and if so, what percentage of them is she expecting to win over?