In an appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Tuesday Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) offered a strange defense of a stringent new Arizona immigration bill that could lead to racial profiling.
When asked by host Bill O'Reilly if he was comfortable with the possibility of racial profiling, McCain said he wold be "very sorry" if it happened, but suggested it's justified because of "the people whose homes and property are being violated. It's the drive-by that -- the drivers of cars with illegals in it that are intentionally causing accidents on the freeway."
McCain added: "Look, our border is not secured. Our citizens are not safe." But the Arizona senator did not provide any additional details to back up his assertion about cars carrying illegal immigrants "intentionally causing accidents."
Watch a clip McCain's appearance:
Here's the transcript:
O'REILLY: Now, next week, the governor is going to sign, we believe, a very stringent state law that gives the police in Arizona very, very broad authority to question people. And a lot of people say it's going to be racial profiling. You're going to look for Hispanics, question them, to see if they're here legally or not. And it's just not fair. And you say why?
MCCAIN: I say that the federal responsibilities have not been fulfilled. Therefore, the states are acting -- the state of Arizona is acting and doing what they feel they need to do in light of the fact that the federal government is not fulfilling its fundamental responsibility to secure our borders. Our borders must be secure.
O'REILLY: But what about the racial profiling? You know that's going to happen has to happen.
MCCAIN: I hope -- I would be very sorry that if some of that happens. And I regret it, but I also regret the -- really, it's not just the murder of Robert Krantz. It's the people whose homes and property are being violated. It's the drive-by that -- the drivers of cars with illegals in it that are intentionally causing accidents on the freeway. Look, our border is not secured. Our citizens are not safe.