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Stewart “disappointed” in McCain on illegal immigration
One issue noticeably absent from Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain’s speech to supporters in Prince William on Saturday was illegal immigration.Unlike the majority of the Republican base, McCain has supported a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
So for him to stop in the county that was the national hotbed for illegal immigration controversy just last year and not talk about the issue troubled of Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart (R).
Stewart was elected county chairman in a 2006 special election during a time when the political climate for Republicans nationwide was particularly toxic. He was elected to serve a full, four-year term last year after running a campaign focused extensively on his platform to crack down on illegal immigration.
“But I think that clearly McCain’s campaign has tried to distance itself on Prince William County’s local crackdown on illegal immigration," he said. "And I think that’s a blunder. And I use that word very strongly and I mean it.”
In order to connect with the crowd on illegal immigration, “All he had to say was ‘Protect the borders’ and unlike [Democratic president nominee Sen.] Barack Obama, he does not favor workforce rights and giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. That’s all he had to say,” Stewart added.
The board chairman claimed responsibility for convincing the McCain camp to come to Prince William in the first place.
“I was the one who was pressuring them behind the scenes, saying that Obama had been here once and Biden three times,” said Stewart.
The chairman said he likes McCain’s stance on illegal immigration better than Obama’s and said he is afraid Obama would defund the federal 287(g) program that authorizes local and state law enforcement officers to start the deportation process for incarcerated illegal immigrants.
However, Stewart resented what he perceived as the McCain camp’s attempt to distance itself from the county’s crackdown.
“We had no real place other than getting introduced through a long line of people,” Stewart said of his fellow Republican county supervisors, referring to an honorees list read by Clerk of the Circuit Court Michele McQuigg.
Though she had asked the audience to hold their applause until the end, Stewart’s name was the only one cheered after she read it.
“I don’t feel that proper protocol was respected, and I think that’s going to hurt him, frankly. The local Republicans know how to win elections here,” said Stewart.
“I’m very, very disappointed in McCain’s campaign here,” he added.
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