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Published January 24, 2017
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," October 9, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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O'REILLY: "Factor Follow-Up Segment" tonight. Ground zero for Kate's Law and sanctuary city controversies is, of course, the southern border with Mexico. The U.S. government still cannot seem to secure it.
Joining us now from San Diego, Governor Mike Huckabee -- he's touring the border this weekend.
It seems incredible the most powerful nation on earth can't stop border madness. Both parties are at fault, in my opinion. What do you hope to achieve down there this weekend?
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of the things, Bill, we're going to do -- I'll be with former Congressman Duncan Hunter -- 20 years ago, they built a double-wall security fence along the Tijuana/San Diego corridor. And when they did that, in the 20 years, they have reduced illegal immigration by 95 percent It's gone from 480,000 illegal immigrants coming across to 30,000. I mean, it has been a huge success.
The fact is we have to secure the border. And if I were president, I would deploy the Director of Homeland Security to Laredo, Texas, and tell him he and his family would be living there and wouldn't get to leave until the fence was constructed.
And Bill, we could do it in less than a year, because we've built the road between British Columbia and Alaska 73 years ago. It was a 1,700-mile road, and it was done under arctic conditions. There's no way this country, if it wanted to --
O'REILLY: Sure.
HUCKABEE: -- doesn't have the capacity to --
O'REILLY: Everybody knows that.
HUCKABEE: -- take care of this border.
O'REILLY: But it's all about will. When you were governor of Arkansas, did you have sanctuary cities in your state?
HUCKABEE: We did not.
O'REILLY: Okay, so you didn't have to deal with them.
HUCKABEE: We did not.
O'REILLY: But as we just reported, 340 municipalities and cities now won't cooperate with the federal government, and the Democratic Party's invested in not enforcing federal immigration law. So, all of that is true, but I found in my quest for Kate's law that the Republicans like Mitch McConnell and other people, they're not, you know, on board with Kate's law that well much. They want to tie it into a whole bunch of other stuff, and they know that it's not going to pass when it's tied in. And I don't care -- I can't really figure that out. Can you?
HUCKABEE: Not really, because the best way to handle it is a stand-alone, because it's always easy to say, gee, I was really for Kate's law, but it was put in that big pile of stew, and therefore, I couldn't vote for it. And I really do think that the way to handle it to make it a stand-alone Bill, let everybody stand up and be counted for it. I know that there's some heartburn because the sentencing commission has estimated that it would increase the number of inmates in the systems by 60,000. That's a $2 billion-a-year hit, so there will be some fiscal concerns. But I also believe that --
O'REILLY: Well, how much --
HUCKABEE: -- when it's all said and done --
O'REILLY: Governor, Governor --
HUCKABEE: Yes.
O'REILLY: How much is Kate Steinle's life worth?
HUCKABEE: Well, and that's the selling point.
O'REILLY: I'm just saying --
HUCKABEE: That's how you get it passed, right.
O'REILLY: Yes. We just heard a baby was beaten, you know? And we saw in Hidalgo County yesterday, the two men murdered -- I mean, look, $60 billion -- first of all, I don't believe that, all right? Because it's aggravated felons that get the mandatory five, okay?
HUCKABEE: Yes.
O'REILLY: And once the word gets out, you know what's going to happen, Governor? There's going to be a few less aggravated felons coming back. Once they know they can be popped right off the street, all right, just for standing here, there are going to be a few less of them. And then the drug gangs, who the cops know already that they have aggravated felons running them, and they've been deported, bang! They're all destroyed right on the spot. And you're telling me that we can't get a stand-alone vote in the Senate and the House of Representatives on this? See, this is corruption, in my opinion.
HUCKABEE: Well, we can, Bill -- it is corruption.
O'REILLY: It is corrupt!
HUCKABEE: It's all about donors, it's all about following the corporate class, the donor class, and that's why a lot of things don't happen. It's why Americans are so frustrated.
O'REILLY: Yes!
HUCKABEE: They're tired of seeing Kate Steinle's being murdered on the streets as innocents.
O'REILLY: But what about the Democratic Party? What is wrong with this party? I don't understand it. I mean, are you telling me -- are you going to sit there and tell me that John F. Kennedy would have voted against Kate's law? I'm going to tell you you're out of your mind! That never would have happened 50, 60 years ago in the Democratic Party. Lyndon Johnson would have voted against this? No way on earth! What has happened to that party?
HUCKABEE: But the Democratic Party of today is a very different Democratic Party than when you had John Kennedy, who believed in a very strong America and a visionary America. It's a very different, even from the Democrats -- you had the Southern Blue Dog Democrats. They're all gone. Every one of them have been voted out because there is no room in the Democratic Party for anyone other than a far left wing liberal. That's the only places that are left in the party.
O'REILLY: It's just amazing that their constituencies still continue -- like tip O'Neill. I mean, that's a great example. Tip O'Neill is going to vote against Kate's law? No, he's not. He's not.
HUCKABEE: No, he wouldn't have.
O'REILLY: It's ridiculous! It's absurd. Yet, they're all like lemmings. They just follow the Pelosi/Reid clarion call to just, they don't care! And, you know, they penny fog it and penny fog it and oh, you want to get Gardners. Oh, no, you're after this one, when it's aggravated felons we're talking about, the worst of the worst! And they still can come back and you're not going to give them mandatory jail time? My God! Last word, Governor.
HUCKABEE: Well, Bill, if you had the law, what would happen, people who thought that they might just sneak back in wouldn't do it for fear --
O'REILLY: Right.
HUCKABEE: -- of a five-year prison sentence. I mean, it's as simple as that. A lot of times, the very thing that is the deterrent is the fear that if they get caught, there's going to be a mandatory time in prison, and it is not going to be pleasant. And I don't think many of the felons would say, let's just take the risk. Right now they know what's going to happen, catch and release. That's got to stop.
O'REILLY: That's what's going to happen.
HUCKABEE: There needs to be some real penalties.
O'REILLY: All right. Governor, thanks very much.
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