(CBS)
MIAMI – Facing increased scrutiny as the new Republican frontrunner, Mike Huckabee fielded questions from reporters on his belief that homosexuality is a "sin" and a raid on illegal immigrants conducted in Arkansas that Huckabee strongly denounced while governor.
Huckabee said "sin" means "missing the mark" and "we've all missed the mark." In the case of homosexuality, Huckabee said, the "mark" is marriage between a man and a woman.
When asked if that meant he would not appoint someone who is gay into his senior administration, Huckabee said, "Of course it doesn't mean that. Because the fact is, I just said, everyone misses the mark. If I did that, I couldn't have anybody in my administration; in fact, I couldn't be in it." He said how people miss the mark is different and he said he's employed people who were gay.
Regarding the immigration raid, it's "legitimate," Huckabee said, to have a raid if there is "widespread evidence" an employer is knowingly employing illegals. In regard to the raid he denounced, there was a tone of anger in Huckabee's voice when he recalled how "ICE came into raid a plant and they took both mothers and fathers in a raid and moved them 80 miles away to a jail. They did not tell the local sheriff, they did not tell the local human services ages. And so what happened was there were children as young as six months old who literally were abandoned by their parents who were incarcerated."
"What outraged me, was not the enforcement of the law, but it was not doing it in a humane manner," said Huckabee. "And not recognizing that when you take away a mother and father away from a child without even the courtesy of notifiying local authorities, that is beneath the dignity of the United States of America and how we do business."
Huckabee Continues Defending Past Comments
By Joy Lin
/ CBS News
MIAMI – Facing increased scrutiny as the new Republican frontrunner, Mike Huckabee fielded questions from reporters on his belief that homosexuality is a "sin" and a raid on illegal immigrants conducted in Arkansas that Huckabee strongly denounced while governor.
Huckabee said "sin" means "missing the mark" and "we've all missed the mark." In the case of homosexuality, Huckabee said, the "mark" is marriage between a man and a woman.
When asked if that meant he would not appoint someone who is gay into his senior administration, Huckabee said, "Of course it doesn't mean that. Because the fact is, I just said, everyone misses the mark. If I did that, I couldn't have anybody in my administration; in fact, I couldn't be in it." He said how people miss the mark is different and he said he's employed people who were gay.
Regarding the immigration raid, it's "legitimate," Huckabee said, to have a raid if there is "widespread evidence" an employer is knowingly employing illegals. In regard to the raid he denounced, there was a tone of anger in Huckabee's voice when he recalled how "ICE came into raid a plant and they took both mothers and fathers in a raid and moved them 80 miles away to a jail. They did not tell the local sheriff, they did not tell the local human services ages. And so what happened was there were children as young as six months old who literally were abandoned by their parents who were incarcerated."
"What outraged me, was not the enforcement of the law, but it was not doing it in a humane manner," said Huckabee. "And not recognizing that when you take away a mother and father away from a child without even the courtesy of notifiying local authorities, that is beneath the dignity of the United States of America and how we do business."
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