By: Julie O’Donoghue | Louisiana Illuminator
The Louisiana Republican Party voted overwhelmingly Saturday to endorse President Donald Trump’s aggressive and controversial immigration enforcement efforts, even as Minnesota officials warn Minneapolis is descending into chaos as a result of a dramatic federal immigration crackdown.
The Republican State Central Committee approved a resolution saying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are performing “vital work” that upholds “national sovereignty” and ensures public safety. The vote took place during the group’s quarterly meeting held this weekend in Baton Rouge.
An initial draft of the resolution also rebuked Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, the second-highest ranking Republican in state government, for questioning Trump’s immigration strategy. Late last year, Nungesser told reporters he wondered whether the surge in federal border patrol agents who descended upon south Louisiana in December had hurt New Orleans’ tourism industry.
But state Rep. Mike Bayham, R-Chalmette, convinced other members of the Republican committee to remove the comments about Nungesser from the resolution before the vote. Bayham said Nungesser is a popular elected official who regularly supports GOP causes by making donations to Republican women’s groups around the state.
“This isn’t the time to pick a fight with the lieutenant governor,” Bayham said in an interview after the resolution passed.
As lieutenant governor, Nungesser oversees the state’s tourism and marketing efforts. He said several business leaders in the hotel and restaurant industries had called him to say their employees had stopped showing up to their jobs during Louisiana’s immigration crackdown. Immigrants with legal work permits were scared they could get swept up in the federal raids if they went to work, he said.
Federal agents said they were targeting immigrants who weren’t in the country legally and who criminal backgrounds. But records show several people arrested during the Louisiana sweeps have no criminal history beyond traffic tickets, according to the Associated Press.
Louisiana is also no longer a target from federal immigration enforcement. Border Patrol officers also abruptly pulled out of the state earlier this month so they could be redeployed to Minnesota, the Associated Press reported.
For a few State Central Committee members Saturday, the frustration with Nungesser appeared to extend beyond his immigration comments.
Charlie Buckels of Lafayette said he was upset with Nungesser because the lieutenant governor had “trashed” Gov. Jeff Landry and criticized the new closed party primary system Landry helped implement.
Nungesser has traveled the state campaigning against the new primary system, which he believes weakens moderate voters’ influence and empowers extremists in both political parties.
Still, GOP activists at Saturday’s meeting said it would make the party leaders look foolish to criticize one of the state’s highest-profile Republicans.
“What happens here is the media is going to talk about it, and that’s going to make us look like children,” committee member Heidi Parker Martin of New Iberia said, arguing against the formal criticism of Nungesser. “I would rather handle this in more of a private situation.”
Reached by phone Saturday, Nungesser said state GOP leaders should have invited him to their meeting so he could defend himself against the criticism. Republicans should also be able to have a difference of opinion without facing a punishment for it, he added.
“I speak out when something is wrong, and everybody should be able to do that,” Nungesser said.