Adam Putnam downplays past immigration policies

Under fire for being weak on immigration, Republican frontrunner for governor Adam Putnam downplayed his support for legislation he once co-sponsored that would have allowed undocumented immigrants to work in the United States and receive a pathway to legal residency.

Putnam, the state’s agriculture commissioner, was adamant: A pathway to residency is not a pathway to citizenship.

“Citizenship has never been something that I have supported,” said Putnam, of Bartow. “Citizenship is amnesty. And I’ve never supported amnesty.”

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More: Listen to the audio for this interview »

Putnam wouldn’t comment on specifics of the 2003 Border Security and Immigration Improvement Act he co-sponsored when he served in Congress, saying repeatedly the legislation was “14 years” ago.

The candidate’s past immigration policies became relevant earlier this month when Tony Fabrizio — a pollster for a potential Putnam rival, Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran — told Politico that Putnam supported amnesty while in Congress. Politifact Florida rated Fabrizio’s comment “Half True,” partly due to the varying definitions of amnesty.

Referring to Putnam as “#AmnestyAdam” in a text message Thursday to the Naples Daily News, Fabrizio said the candidate was using “convenient amnesia and weasel words to try and hide his clear and irrefutable support for amnesty for illegal immigrants.”

Fabrizio went on to say Putnam would pay at the polls.

“Putnam is going to experience the hard lesson learned numerous times before in primaries, that when GOP voters hear the phrases ‘pathway to residency’ or ‘pathway to citizenship’ for illegal immigrants, they see it for what it is — Washington-speak for amnesty — and they punish those who support it,” said Fabrizio, who helped mastermind outgoing Gov. Rick Scott’s juggernaut campaign in 2010 in which he attacked fellow Republican and former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum over his immigration flip flops.

An heir to a Florida agriculture family, Putnam in 2007 and 2009 co-sponsored congressional legislation that would give undocumented farmworkers who were already in the United States a “blue card status” if they met certain requirements, such as working for 150 days during a certain time period.

Once the worker with that status “fulfilled specified periods of agricultural employment,” according the bills' summaries, their status would be changed to permanent resident. The legislation didn’t go anywhere in the House.

Putnam wouldn’t say Thursday whether he supported those measures today. Instead, he talked only in generalities.

“There are ways for us to secure our borders. There are ways for us to make sure that the law is applied evenly across the country. And there are ways for Washington to fix a broken immigration system,” Putnam said. “And I’ve worked to try to do that.”

When asked how he tried to fix the immigration system, he referred to past positions that were more in line with President Donald Trump’s stance on immigration. Trump won Florida in both the primary and the general election.

“Well, I worked to secure our borders. I worked to eliminate sanctuary cities,” Putnam said. “I worked to create the type of system that will allow individuals who want to come to this country to come here the right way and go through the proper procedures so that they can find their piece of the American dream.”

See the full interview transcript below:

Question: Do you still support the 2003 bill you co-sponsored called the Border Security and Immigration Improvement Act?

Answer: Well, forgive me if I need to refresh my memory on something that was 14 years ago.

Q: So the bill essentially gave undocumented farmworkers a three-year work visa and then a pathway to permanent residency.

A: Well, I have never supported amnesty. But I do support Washington fixing what is clearly a broken immigration system. We’ve got to secure our borders. We’ve got to eliminate sanctuary cities. And we’ve got to make sure that our state and our nation are safe.

Q: But what about the provisions in that bill. Like giving workers a pathway to citizenship?

A: I’ve never supported a pathway to citizenship. I’ve never supported amnesty, and I’ve never supported a pathway to citizenship.

Q: But what about the provisions in the bill: a three-year work permit and a pathway to permanent residency?

A: Like I said, I’d need to read it since it’s been 14 years.

Q: Sure. What about some concepts behind some legislation you co-sponsored in 2007 and 2009 that would have given “blue cards” to undocumented farmworkers already in the United States?

A: Well, as I’ve said, it’s important for us to secure our borders, and it’s important for us to eliminate sanctuary cities, and it’s important for Congress to come up with the right fix for a failed immigration system. And I have always worked toward fixing that system which fundamentally requires us to begin with secure borders. And so I’d be happy to sit down with you and go over the different things that you are referring to, but my basic principles are: Secure our borders, eliminate sanctuary cities, and I’ve never supported amnesty. But Washington is so broken that they can’t fix some of the most fundamental things that are important like securing our borders. That’s, frankly, one of the reasons why I left to come home to Florida where we can make a difference, and we can focus on building the kind of pro-business climate that these guys depend on, and these guys are supporting my campaign because I understand the need for a pro-business climate for our state so that we don’t go the way of a New York or a New Jersey or an Illinois.

Q: So I understand that, and that makes sense, but in this legislation it comes up again and again that you’re supporting giving workers work permits in one way or another. In the 2007 and 2009 legislation, the blue card was a work permit, and then after they paid a fine, they could pursue a lawful pathway to permanent residency. So what do you say to that?

A: Citizenship has never been something that I have supported. Citizenship is amnesty. And I’ve never supported amnesty. There are ways for us to secure our borders. There are ways for us to make sure that the law is applied evenly across the country. And there are ways for Washington to fix a broken immigration system. And I’ve worked to try to do that. It’s disappointing to me that they continue to fail at coming up with the right solution. Meanwhile, in Florida, we’re moving forward, and we are proud of the work that we’ve done to cut our unemployment rate in half. We are proud of the fact that we are attracting 1,000 new people a day to our state. And we’re benefiting from the bad anti-business policies that’s driving talent to our state.

Q: You just said that you’ve worked to fix the broken immigration system. What did you mean by that?

A: Well, I worked to secure our borders. I worked to eliminate sanctuary cities. I worked to create the type of system that will allow individuals who want to come to this country to come here the right way and go through the proper procedures so that they can find their piece of the American dream.