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McCollumn Switches to Supporting Arizona-Style Immigration Law, After Opponent In Primary Backed It

Former hospital CEO Rick Scott (R) and FL Attorney General Bill McCollum (R)

The Arizona anti-illegal immigration law is now catching on in the race for governor of Florida, with state Attorney General Bill McCollum saying that he would back bringing it to Florida — after his new opponent in the GOP primary, former health care executive Rick Scott, began pushing it.

The St. Petersburg Times points out that McCollum previously said a few weeks ago that the law was “far out” and not suitable for Florida. But then Scott praised the law in a new radio ad. McCollum now cites changes that have been made to the law in response to complaints about potential racial profiling, and says he supports it.

Now McCollum says: “As state and local law enforcement officials in Arizona begin to implement the state’s aggressive new border security law to crackdown on illegal immigration, I applaud Gov. Brewer and the Arizona Legislature for stepping up their enforcement efforts at a time when President Obama’s administration has let states down. I support Arizona’s law as amended, and if the federal government fails to secure our borders and solve the problem of illegal immigration, I would support a similar law for Florida.”

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