Des Moines Radio: WHO Host "Use Illegals To Build Wall"

Jan Mickelson

WHO 1040 AM talker Jan Mickelson is getting national attention for saying one way to handle immigrants in the country illegally would be to invite them to leave or else face being indentured for service building a border wall.

"So if you are here without our permission," Mickelson said on his show Monday, "and we have given you two months to leave, and you're still here, and we find that you're still here after we we've given you the deadline to leave, then you become property of the state of Iowa. And we have a job for you. And we start using compelled labor. The people who are here illegally would therefore be owned by the state and become an asset of the state rather than a liability. And we start inventing jobs for them to do."

Mickelson told The Des Moines Register Thursday that he thinks "the outrage from the Media Matters is contrived. They included the (audio) of my comments in context which is good, but almost nobody is listening to the premise, just looking at headline. 'Talk host wants to enslave immigrants.' "

He said Media Matters – which called him an "influential conservative kingmaker" is trying to use him as a club to bludgeon candidates.

Mickelson said he offered the Media Matters team to come on his iHM show, but so far they haven't accepted.