The interview will play in the first two segments of hour one and hour three today. We spend the first few questions on the case of Wayne Dumond which Governor Huckabee answered questions about today. We also talk about his immigration comments last night on CNN. The transcript will be up here later, and the audio here.
The background on Dumond is in this article by Byron York.
Here's Huckabee's exchange with Wolf Blitzer:
WOLF BLITZER: "Did you support special tuition breaks to children of illegal immigrants?"
GOV. HUCKABEE: "No, it was not special tuition breaks. What I supported was that people who had been in our schools, who had met all of the academic requirements for a very specific scholarship would be able to get the same scholarship as anybody else because they had been in our schools and part of it they had to apply for citizenship. Now, what's better? Having a person remain a minimum wage worker and be on the subsidy? Or, is it better that they become a citizen, they get a college education, they become a significant taxpayer, they have shown their academic credentials? And you know what Wolf? You don't punish the child for the crime of the parents."
BLITZER: "Are these children that were born in the United States? If they were they are U.S citizens, and they should get all the benefits as every citizen or were they children who came here with their illegal immigrant parents and as a result just went through the system?"
GOV. HUCKABEE: "Some would have been both. But some of them would have had to have been in our school system through their entire school career in order to qualify for the scholarships. It wasn't that if they got them someone else didn't, because it was available to anybody. Bottom line is that this country doesn't have a history of punishing the child for the sin of the parent. Now, if that causes somebody to want to vote for somebody else for President there are plenty of other people saying let's punish children. I'm sorry. But I think that you punish the crime doer. If the parent committed the crime and came here illegally, I don't have any problem with punishing them."
BLITZER: "So can I just put a finishing touch? Amnesty for the children of illegal immigrants would be OK?"
GOV. HUCKABEE: "It is not amnesty."
BLITZER: "But you said they could apply for citizenship?"
GOV. HUCKABEE: "Well, here's the thing. It is not an amnesty because the child didn't commit a crime, the child didn't -- when he is 5 years old and comes here in the back of his parents' vehicle, did he commit the crime? That would be the point to be made."
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