This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," June 18, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: The Kansas secretary of state calls what happened on his front porch this past weekend, quote, "appalling." Hundreds of people from the Sunflower Community Action group came to his home to protest against his stance on immigration. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROWD CHANTING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: We've left these shoes here so that Mr. Kobach can maybe try to fill them. Because these are the shoes of the fathers that he's deported -- that had been deported by his laws that he's lobbied for and passed. Kobach separates families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, thankfully Mr. Kobach and his family were not home at the time but he said that if he was, he would have been very afraid especially since it took police 15 minutes to respond.
Here to explain more is the man himself, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, and we're also joined by immigration Attorney Francisco Hernandez.
FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Mr. Hannity, how are you?
HANNITY: Mr. Kobach, I kind of have a rule, I believe in everybody's right to protest, when they start going to your home, bringing your family into it, they can have recall petitions, vote you out of office, in my mind this crosses a line. Tell me how you felt.
KRIS KOBACH, R- KANSAS SECRETARY OF STATE: Absolutely, I agree, Sean. Look, they can protest against me all day long, outside my office, they protested when I have given public speeches before, that's on public grounds. But they cross a line when they go on private property to intimidate me.
Now, bare in mind, they're coming up the drive way on to the porch. I am just so blessed that my family and my kids weren't there. Because if my kids -- we have four kids, ages nine, seven, three and one, they're right at that age, they would have been scarred for life, seeing people piling out of buses with mega phones, shouting things about their daddy.
You know, there's no need in public discourse for invasions of private property by mobs like this, and you know, like I say, I'm happy to debate anybody any time, Francisco and I have debated before, but this is ridiculous.
HANNITY: Yes. And you're sworn as the secretary of state, is it not your sworn duty to uphold the laws of the state, the land and the Constitution?
KOBACH: It is my sworn duty. And in particular, the election laws, Kansas has passed a number of very tough laws against election fraud and the same group of left-wing and activist has opposed that as well.
HANNITY: All right. So, they're complaining that you're doing your job, this is what you're hired to do, and they should be fighting to change the law, you didn't write the law.
Mr. Hernandez, are you a supporter of this?
HERNANDEZ: Well, I'm not a supporter of intimidating anybody, but I think we all know that everybody understood that he wasn't home, and this was a complete --
KOBACH: No they ddin't.
HERNANDEZ: -- play for the press, well, my understanding is that --
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
KOBACH: No, no. That's incorrect. That's incorrect. Nobody knew that I was not home.
HERNANDEZ: OK, well --
KOBACH: In fact, they were shouting. They were shouting, "Kris Kobach, come on out. Let us show you what Kansas is all about."
HERNANDEZ: You're trying to make a point. I'm trying to make a point, too. But I guess I don't get to. I understand that -- I like to finish my thought that certainly everybody thinks their freedom of speech right is the most valuable right. That's just the right to make a jack-ass. I'm not saying that we're right, and that they should have intimidated you, but if there are any laws that are broken, they will be arrested. It's all on video, they were trying to make a point. It probably should have been made a better way, but I don't think you were intimidated.
KOBACH: Two responses.
HANNITY: If buses of people came to your house and walked on your lawn and dumped things on your front step and your family was there, how would you feel?
HERNANDEZ: If the family were there, it's a different deal. But this was a church group, there were no guns, there were no sticks, there was not a
KOBACH: Not a church group. This is not a church group.
HERNANDEZ: -- they were trying to exercise their first amendment rights and the worst way they could do it.
HANNITY: Mr. Kobach?
KOBACH: Let me respond. First of all, they had no idea I was not there, only a very small number of people knew we were out of town.
Secondly, if as you claim, they were trying to make a public statement, they would have done it in a public place. Our neighborhood is in the far outskirts of the city. There are corn fields just a few hundred yards away, there was nobody there. They were protesting an audience of one. They were trying to intimidate me.
HERNANDEZ: I grant you --
KOBACH: And they were saying, "Kris Kobach, come on out." That's not a very -- I mean, they were inviting me to come out and confront them is what they were trying to do.
HERNANDEZ: Well, no, they weren't there to confront. I think they should have stayed on the public street. I think they can even make it there and you could certainly make a good argument that they're welcome to do it there. You are a public figure, you ran for that office.
KOBACH: Sure.
HERNANDEZ: You take some bad baggage like the good baggage. But that's what it is --
KOBACH: It's not violations of law.
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
HERNANDEZ: The should have not gone on your property, I agree with that. But doesn't mean they don't get to make a point. And it obscures the point. It's clouding the point. It's clouding the point about immigration reform.
KOBACH: Make your point on public property. They can make their point on public property.
HERNANDEZ: Would you be less threatened if they were on the street? You weren't there.
KOBACH: Absolutely. They were -- look, as far as they knew, my whole family was in the house, and that would have been terrifying for my kids to see this happening with all these people shouting with megaphones. It's a mob.
HERNANDEZ: My clear understanding is that everybody knew you weren't going to be there because the press was called ahead of time to be there, it's a complete press play.
KOBACH: No, only the NSA would have known because only a few members of my family knew where we were at that time.
HERNANDEZ: They certainly would have known the 100 protesters that were going out there, they were all on their cell phones.
HANNITY: Mr. Hernandez, I think you missed the one point here. I think the secretary of state has a good point here. If he's in a public place, if he is at his office, if he's at work, if he's giving a public speech, it's all fair game. But when you go into people's neighborhoods and you go in by the hundreds and the busloads, you're creating an intimidating environment where people live, where children are. And I would think that all sides politically speaking keep the kids out of it period. Why wouldn't you support that?
HERNANDEZ: Nobody argues with that. I'm with you on that, no problem with that.
HANNITY: Well, I -- you're kind of speaking out of both sides here.
HERNANDEZ: Everybody knew he wasn't there. We can argue saying that, but they --
KOBACH: They had no idea he wasn't there. Nobody knew I wasn't there. Why were they shouting, "Kris Kobach come on out"?
HERNANDEZ: My understanding was that everybody knew you weren't going to be there. The press knew you weren't going to be there. They wanted to do it in front of your house.
KOBACH: The press didn't know that. I don't know who you talked to. Why then were they shouting, "Kris Kobach, come on out," If they thought I wasn't there?
HERNANDEZ: It's a play, it's an act.
HANNITY: It's an act? You can assure everybody of that?
KOBACH: What you're saying is completely wrong.
HERNANDEZ: It's a church group.
HANNITY: All right, guys, we have to leave it there. Appreciate it.
Content and Programming Copyright 2013 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2013 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox