Kris Kobach, Author Of Anti-Immigrant State Laws, Backs Mitt Romney In GOP Race

Following his win in the New Hampshire presidential primary, Mitt Romney announced today that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) endorsed his campaign. Kobach is the anti-immigrant official who drafted Arizona and Alabama’s harmful immigration laws, and who once wrote a book opposing the anti-Apartheid boycott of South Africa.

Kobach praised Romney in a press release:

“We need a president who will finally put a stop to a problem that has plagued our country for a generation: millions of illegal aliens coming into the country and taking jobs from United States citizens and legal aliens, while consuming hundreds of billions of dollars in public benefits at taxpayer expense,” said Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. “Illegal immigration is a nightmare for America’s economy and America’s national security. Mitt Romney is the candidate who will finally secure the borders and put a stop to the magnets, like in-state tuition, that encourage illegal aliens to remain in our country unlawfully.”

Kobach’s statement that Romney would actually “put a stop” to progressive state immigration laws which provide in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants is a great deal more radical than Romney’s previous statements.

Yet surprisingly, Romney’s harsh immigration stance has been largely overlooked in the press. After one GOP debate in November, Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom essentially conceded that his candidate’s position was to make immigrants’ lives unbearable to force them to leave. And last week the Obama campaign dubbed Romney the most extreme GOP candidate on the immigration issue.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/01/11/402550/kris-kobach-author-of-anti-immigrant-state-laws-backs-mitt-romney-in-gop-race/

Kobach and ALEC seem to always be showing up at the same places and pushing the same types of legislation.