Richardson speaks on oil spill, immigration reform

Posted at: 05/02/2010 5:45 PM | Updated at: 05/03/2010 7:53 AM
By: Jeff Maher, Eyewitness News 4

Governor Bill Richardson was one of four political contributors Sunday on NBC's Meet The Press. On the show, Richardson made it clear he is completely against the Arizona immigration law, and also that British Petroleum is to blame for the oil spill in the gulf coast, and needs to pay for it.

The first topic the governor tackled as a panelist was immigration reform and the tens of thousands of protesters nationwide reacting to Arizona's new law, which allows police officers to check ID's of suspected illegal immigrants. Richardson says the law is terrible.

"There's going to be an anti-immigration hysteria creeping up and the Congress needs to act," he told host David Gregory. "I think (Congressman Mike Pence) and many Republicans, all they want to do is more border security ... we need more border patrol, we need the National Guard, but you have to do it simultaneously as an earn legalization plan."

Richardson was also quick to go on the attack about the oil spill in the Gulf. He says not only is BP to blame, but he says new laws need to be created in response to the disaster.

"My view is we need an overall oceans policy in this country," Richardson said. "Protecting the oceans just as we protect the land, I think the President was right in putting a moratorium on new off-shore leases, I think the clean water act needs to be expanded to provide aid to the Gulf."

Richardson and the rest of the panel also discussed the Governor's race in Florida and how that could impact overall changes within the Republican Party.

Print Story