Remember when Bill Clinton fought like hell to keep refugees out of his state?

Remember when Bill Clinton fought like hell to keep refugees out of his state?

And did so with a string of expletives that would make a Teamster blush. More on that latter.

When Wednesday night’s debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump rolls around, Trump may want to ask Clinton — who has threatened to increase the influx of refugees to the U.S. by 500% — about her husband’s very different stance when he was the governor of Arkansas in the 1980s.

Bubba vehemently protested President Jimmy Carter’s orders to house Cuban refugees in his state. Then-Cuban President Fidel Castro faced a bad economy in the country. Because of the country’s economic problems, he allowed 125,000 Cubans leave and go to America.

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Carter, who at the time said Americans must welcome the refugees with “open arms,” told Clinton Arkansas’s Fort Chaffee should hold some of them.

The fort had been used as a training and prisoner of war camp during World War II, holding almost 3,000 German POWs. In the late 70s, it served as a place to process Southeast Asia refugees and connect them with American sponsors.

This time, Carter ordered Clinton to use it to house almost 20,000 Cuban refugees.

Publicly, it seemed that Clinton was in favor of the idea, telling Arkansans that the country “must accept our responsibility as the leader of the free world.” In private, Clinton objected and tried to get around it.

He suggested to the White House that the Cubans be screened before entering the U.S. Those who did not pass screening could be housed elsewhere, he proposed.

“We still have a base at Guantanamo, don’t we?” Clinton said in his memoir “My Life.” “And there must be a gate in the fence that divides it from Cuba. Take them to Guantanamo, open the door, and march them back into Cuba.”

The White House dismissed his proposal and sent 20,000 refugees to Arkansas by May 20, much to the dismay of the locals. About six days after the refugees arrived, a “couple hundred” escaped from the fort and walked the streets chanting “Libertad! Libertad!”

Clinton spoke to Carter and “demanded that someone be given authority to keep the Cubans on the base.”

Lynn Merechka, a former guard at Fort Chaffee, spoke on the Travel Channel about the dismal conditions at the fort:

Some of these guys were in prison from the time they were 12 years old. And that’s all they knew was prison life. They had American people who would sponsor them to get them a job, a house, stuff like that. Once they figured out they weren’t going to leave, some of them got kind of desperate, saying ‘Hey, I just traded one prison for another.

According to Merechka, there were fights almost everyday and stabbings were a regular occurrence.

One thousand Cubans rioted and escaped the fort June 1, 1980. They battled with the National Guard and State Police; in the end, 62 refugees had injuries and police arrested another 46.

Carter promised Clinton that he would not send more refugees after the riot, but a couple of months later, he called to inform Clinton that more refugees would be coming.

Clinton asked for them to be placed elsewhere and exploded at the White House personnel who gave him the news, cursing a blue streak. “You’re f*cking me,” Clinton is on record as having screamed. “How could you do this to me? I busted my ass for Carter. You guys are gonna get me beat. I’ve done everything I could for you guys. This is ridiculous.”

He was right, but let’s see if his wife agrees that flooding the nation with refugees is ridiculous when the cameras are on her.

This report, by Amber Randall, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

LU Staff

LU Staff

Promoting and defending liberty, as defined by the nation’s founders, requires both facts and philosophical thought, transcending all elements of our culture, from partisan politics to social issues, the workings of government, and entertainment and off-duty interests. Liberty Unyielding is committed to bringing together voices that will fuel the flame of liberty, with a dialogue that is lively and informative.

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