Rep. D. J. Bettencourt's Statement

In the ongoing saga that is known has the D.J. Bettencourt story, we have obtained Bettencourt's statement announcing his support of Mitt Romney. Mr. Bettencourt has announced that he is withdrawing his support for John McCain and is now supporting Mitt Romney stating that "His values are New Hampshire values." Here is the statement:

STATEMENT FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE REPRESENTATIVE D.J. BETTENCOURT(SALEM):

Over the past few weeks I have told the McCain campaign that I would withdraw my support as his Rockingham County co-chairman if Senator McCain continued to push for amnesty for illegal aliens. Although earlier I publicly endorsed Senator McCain, I cannot, in good conscience, continue to support him. His continued work to allow illegal immigrants to stay in this country indefinitely is out of step with New Hampshire voters. We must enforce the laws on our books, not provide amnesty for millions of people who have broken the law since the moment they stepped on our soil.

America is the land of opportunity and we should encourage legal immigration, but giving illegal immigrants a free pass simply isn't good policy. It weakens our national security and the drain on our public health, education, and law enforcement sectors costs U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars a year. It simply isn't fair to immigrants trying to come to this great nation the right way.

Today, I am publicly endorsing Governor Mitt Romney for president. His values are New Hampshire's values. We share the belief that in order to make our nation better we need a strong military, a strong economy, and strong family values. And his principled stand to not reward people who are here illegally with a permanent free pass to stay, is consistent with my views and the views of most New Hampshire citizens. I look forward to working with Governor Romney and his staff over the next several months to ensure that his message reaches every New Hampshire voter and that he gets every New Hampshire vote possible.