Florida Democrats walk out on hearing to protest racist speaker

[kpete]

Florida House Democrats walked out of a Thursday morning hearing on refugees to protest an invited speaker whose ideas on immigration, they said, were inflammatory and offensive.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, was invited by House Republicans to a committee hearing to discuss security concerns related to refugees in the U.S. The House will soon consider removing Florida from a federal resettlement program for refugees.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, Krikorian has ties to white nationalists, and his center spreads “anti-immigrant” ideas.

“Mr. Krikorian’s invitation to speak today is an insult to myself and all of my colleagues and the millions of Floridians who we represent,” said state Rep. Bobby DuBose, D-Fort Lauderdale. “To be blunt, [he] is a racist, and the organization he’s representing is a hate group.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article128901079.html#storylink=cpy