Beckwith Addresses Now-Deleted Haitian Social Media Post
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s Lt. Governor claims a now-deleted post to social media about his recent meeting with Haitian pastors was “totally misconstrued.”
As a guest on WIBC’s “The Hammer and Nigel Show” Tuesday, Republican Micah Beckwith said the post, which saw pushback from other Indiana Republicans and Hoosiers, was not advocating for tens of thousands of immigrants to come to the state.
“That post was totally taken out of context and people started saying ‘you’re a radical leftist, you want open borders,'” Beckwith said Tuesday. “Go back and look at my record, nothing’s changed.”
The post mentioned helping 40,000 Haitian refugees seek asylum in Indiana. Beckwith admitted to the post being “poorly worded,” adding that the refugees are already here and were let in under previous administrations.
According to Beckwith, the meeting with Haitian pastors was more about their responsibility to help the community and for them to not expect “handouts” from the government.
“I was meeting with these pastors to say ‘you guys have a job to do while you’re here under the temporary status and you assimilate to our values, not the other way around,'” Beckwith explained.
Beckwith, who is also a pastor, also shared how he incorporates his faith-based views within his role. He said his faith is something he doesn’t shy away from and sees as his identity.
“I think it’s a problem with America, we’ve pushed faith out of our community and I’m saying bring it back in,” said Beckwith. “I think it’s totally okay to bring faith into this environment.”
When asked if he’ll try to get reelected, Beckwith said he’s more focused on what he can do to serve the people of Indiana, not winning reelection.
“If God opens a door for another term, praise God, I will walk through it, but if he doesn’t, praise God,” he said.
Lt. Governor Beckwith finished the interview by saying he’s looking forward to having more “hard” discussions in public with Hoosiers and holding town hall events.
