GOP frontrunner in key gubernatorial race forced to answer about hiring illegal immigrants: 'I don't know'
Rick Jackson, the Republican frontrunner in Georgia's race for governor, said he didn't know if there were any illegal immigrants doing landscaping for him at his mansion when pressed during the race's only debate ahead of the GOP primary next month.
"You claim to be the tough on illegal deportation, but you've got illegals working in your backyard as we speak right now," fellow Republican candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, argued. "Who's the real Rick Jackson?"
Jones' question directed at Jackson came during a portion of the Monday night debate where candidates got the opportunity to single out one of their opponents for a question.
Jones zeroed in on criticism that while Jackson claims to be Trump's biggest ally in the race, he has donated to the president's rivals, such as Liz Cheney and Nikki Haley, profited off staffing abortion doctors at Planned Parenthood and has hired illegal immigrants to do landscaping at his mansion.
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"First of all, the real Rick Jackson has never taken one dollar from Planned Parenthood. We've never taken one dollar from recruiting surgeons to do transgender surgery for underage kids from that standpoint," Jackson responded. "As far as illegals and so forth, I will absolutely make it the number one place in — Georgia will be number one for deporting criminal illegals. That's my position and that's who I am."
Jackson added that he has "done nothing but give to many pro-life nonprofits," as he continued his rebuttal. "I give more to nonprofits of crisis pregnancy centers here in Georgia than probably you've ever given in your entire life," Jackson said of Jones.
But Jones didn't let go of the illegal alien question.
"So, you don't have any illegals working for you right now?" Jones pressed.
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"I don't know," Jackson replied incredulously. "Here's the reason why — you're talking about a domestic person that somebody hired — I hired thousands of people a year, Burt, I know you have about six yourself — but I hired thousands of people, other people hired them, we obey the laws, we use [unintelligible] verification," Jackson replied before Jones interjected.
"It's just a yes or no answer. I asked him if he has illegals working for him right now. He said he did, and then he said he didn't, so," Jones shot back before the moderators moved on.
Ahead of Monday evening's election, the New York Post reported on legal documents from a worker's compensation suit that Jackson was involved in, which reportedly indicated the billionaire businessman had "maintained a long-standing workforce of multiple laborers performing landscaping and property maintenance work for decades, including individuals without work authorization who nonetheless performed continuous employment for the employer."
The case, brought against Jackson Investment Group, LLC, and JIG Real Estate, LLC, which is owned by the former firm, reportedly suggested Jackson — the companies' CEO — had multiple individuals without proper worker verification documents doing his landscaping.
The documents also showed Jackson said in a deposition that he was unaware that his hires were undocumented immigrants, but he also admitted not vetting new hires using mandatory I-9 verification forms used to ensure people are eligible to work, according to the New York Post.
In other parts of the deposition, Jackson reportedly echoed what he said Monday night, that he was not directly involved with the hiring of workers and only engaged with the landscaping superintendent.
"I know that sounds confusing," Jackson reportedly explained in his deposition. "But most of our — if we have other employees, we usually hire them through JIG or another entity. I’m talking about if JIG has employees, we hire them through another entity. I’m not sure that we have any direct employees, from a payroll standpoint, out of JIG Real Estate."
Jackson, meanwhile, has said if elected he is committed to going after criminal illegal aliens, adding he "doesn't care if you're Muslim or Mongolian, you don't have the right to force your culture on our country" in a recent campaign advertisement that said "criminal illegals" will end up either "deported or departed" under his leadership.
When asked about the exchange between Jones and Jackson during Monday night's debate, Jackson's campaign told Fox News Digital that, "it's just like a corrupt politician to attack Rick over someone hired by his landscaper."
"Rick would never knowingly hire someone in the country illegally and, as governor, he’ll make Georgia No. 1 in criminal illegal deportations," the campaign spokesperson added. "The takeaway from this debate is the universal agreement that Burt Jones has used his office corruptly to enrich himself and attack his political opponents."
The primary election between Jones, Jackson, Attorney General Chris Carr, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and others will take place on May 19.