Iowa conservative radio host Jan Mickelson told listeners recently his idea to remove undocumented immigrants from Iowa — give them a deadline to leave and make them “property of the state” if they don’t.
Mickelson opened the Monday segment, which was flagged by Media Matters, by saying he had been asked by an “immigration open borders activist” how he would get all “the illegals” in Iowa to leave.
“‘Well how you going to do it, Mickelson?,'” the radio show host said. “‘You think you’re so smart. How would you get thousands of illegals to leave Iowa?'”
He said he would “just put up some signs” that would give undocumented immigrants a deadline — perhaps “30 to 60” days — to leave. If they didn’t, he said, they’d become “property of the state” and be placed in “compelled labor.”
From the show:
Anyone who is in the state of Iowa that who is not here legally and who cannot demonstrate their legal status to the satisfaction of the local and state authorities here in the State of Iowa, become property of the State of Iowa. So if you are here without our permission, and we have given you two months to leave, and you’re still here, and we find that you’re still here after we we’ve given you the deadline to leave, then you become property of the State of Iowa. And we have a job for you. And we start using compelled labor, the people who are here illegally would therefore be owned by the state and become an asset of the state rather than a liability and we start inventing jobs for them to do.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has proposed constructing a wall between the United States and Mexico to curb illegal immigration — with Mexico officials footing the bill.
But Mickelson said on his show that, under his plan, the “illegal Mexicans” and the “illegal aliens” will build it.
“We’re going to invite the illegal Mexicans and illegal aliens to build it. If you have come across the border illegally, again give them another 60-day guideline, you need to go home and leave this jurisdiction, and if you don’t you become property of the United States, and guess what? You will be building a wall,” he said. “We will compel your labor. You would belong to these United States. You show up without an invitation, you get to be an asset. You get to be a construction worker. Cool!”
A caller phoned to the program and said that Mickelson’s plan sounded like slavery. To which Mickelson responded, “What’s wrong with slavery?”
Listen to the full show:
h/t: Media Matters
