Immigration at front and center of GOP race

MSNBC ^ | Dec. 12, 2007 | Michael Cooper and Paul Vitello

[AuntB]

Mike Huckabee wrote a book this year in which he lamented the “seething anger” surrounding the immigration debate, advocated giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and concluded that in the debate “some of the rage is fueled by prejudice.”

But on Tuesday Mr. Huckabee welcomed the endorsement in Iowa of Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project, who has sent volunteers to the Mexican border to report illegal immigrants and who has been quoted in news accounts as warning that Congress could set off an “insurrection” if it offered amnesty to them.

It was the latest example of Mr. Huckabee’s shift toward a harder line on immigration, which has emerged as a hot-button issue in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination........

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll found that 8 percent of Republican primary voters named immigration or illegal immigrants as the most important problem facing the country — just behind the war, and tied with the economy.

Others are changing their tone, too. Rudolph W. Giuliani, who once said as mayor of New York that he welcomed hard-working illegal immigrants to the city, was quoted Tuesday in an excerpt from a new book as saying that he would have liked to deport all of the city’s illegal immigrants but had been forced to bow to reality......

[lesser_satan]

Huckabee needs to be exposed. He is the worst of the pack on this issue.

[AuntB]

Huckster & Rudy ping!

[cripplecreek]

Shifting in one direction only means they can shift in another when it becomes convenient.

[wilco200]

I know you’ll understand.

Why o Why is the discussion of immigration focused on these two amnesty fools — where is the attention on Duncan Hunter? the man who wrote the bill that funded the fence that built the fence that reduced illigal immigration, that reduced crime?

Hunter (and Tancredo) are the beginning, middle and end of this issue.

[blackie]

Wake Up America!

[ex-Texan]

Immigration ought to be #1 priority today. We have been invaded by a people who plan to conquer the U.S. the same way that Rome was conquered. By increments and tiny baby steps. No big deal anyway. America is as corrupt as Rome was when it fell. Corrupt politicos only want to get rich and stay in office so they can feather their own nests. Ask anybody who really knows DC. They will tell you every vice known to man is available there for a price.

Shocking Video: The Nation of Aztlan is Rising

[AuntB]

I understand and Blackie has the answer....

“WAKE UP AMERICA!”

[ConservativeMind]

How could the Minuteman project guy endorse The Huckster? There’s nothing but words (at best) behind any claimed tighter immigration stance.

They are apparently both nuts.

[BGHater]

Ask Hannity. Every other day he has Rudy, Romney or Huckabee.

Hunter and Tanc will never get the radio time from most talk radio.

Sad.

[cripplecreek]

Gilchrist is an opportunist. Just yesterday Chris Simcox came out and plainly stated that Gilchrist does not and can not speak for the minutemen.

[tompster76]

I have been polled couple of times. It is surprisingly confusing to answers questions as you have about 2 seconds to answer and your answer is likely to be affected by something you just heard or read (e.g. previous questions, or latest MSM hype issue). In other words, they are not very reliable. but this is hardly news around here:)

[lesser_satan]

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Minutemen to Gilchrist and Huckabee: Speak for Yourselves
(hat tip: Marc Ambinder)

You may have heard the Huckster or his supporters touting the Jim Gilchrist's endorsement of Mike Huckabee.

The REAL Minutemen, the brave guys and gals who volunteer to patrol our nation's southern border, have a different view.

Chris Simcox, President of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corp, sent out the following to his organization's membership today:

Real Minutemen Do Not Endorse Huckabee

No National Minuteman Group has endorsed Mike Huckabee.

One individual Minuteman has personally endorsed him.

For the sake of clarity, it is important to note that the Minuteman
Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), the nation's largest Minuteman organization,
is a 501(C)4 non-profit organization and cannot and does not endorse any
candidate for public office. MCDC is not associated with Mr. Jim
Gilchrist, who today endorsed Mike Huckabee for president.

Jim Gilchrist’s erstwhile Minuteman Project is itself an organization
which by its own representations as a non-profit civic group cannot
legally endorse candidates. It does not have any volunteers who observe
illegal border activity. It has no border fence building projects. Jim
Gilchrist here speaks only for Jim Gilchrist, he does not speak for the
Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, nor is he nationally representative of
most patriots in the "Minuteman movement" – who under no circumstances
could ignore the failed record nor endorse the duplicitous “plan”
recently rolled out by candidate Mike Huckabee. The national media needs
to recognize that Jim Gilchrist’s endorsement is his own personal
statement, nothing more.

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps emphasizes policy dealing with
national border security. The only "plan" to ensure border security that
is acceptable to our constituency would be a candidate policy statement
declaring that his first act as President will be to hold a press
conference and announce to the American people an executive order to
immediately deploy and fund 30,000 National Guard personnel to the U.S.
Borders (25,000 to the southern border and 5,000 to the northern border)
to complement a massive increase in U.S. Border Patrol Agent field
personnel, and a bilateral effort to secure our frontiers, smash the
drug cartels, shut down the human smugglers and protect the public
safety of the citizens who reside along the borders on both sides of our
national boundaries.

Unlike this last-minute opportunism attempted by Huckabee, many of the
other GOP presidential candidates have actually helped push the issue of
national border security forward for some time. Tom Tancredo’s many
years of hard work on the border crisis and illegal immigration issues
have all the candidates striving to sound like him. Duncan Hunter can
take personal credit for getting the highly effective San Diego border
fence built. Ron Paul has been to the border with us first hand and
aggressively pushed positive border legislation. Alan Keyes has done
more than anyone to support the organizational development of MCDC, and
personally participated in the Minuteman Border Fence Groundbreaking –
advancing a citizen’s construction effort which has forced Congress to
finally get the Feds building physical border fence.

Only one Minuteman group is conducting regular multi-state border
security efforts, building fence and aggressively monitoring Washington
DC: Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. We would like to extend an invitation
to all the presidential candidates, Republican and Democrat, to come to
the border and see what is really happening on our nation’s frontier.
Not to take the safe little government photo-op helicopter ride, but see
the lay-up sites full of trash and debris. See the rape trees. See the
violent crime in the border towns. Walk on the pathways of destroyed
environmental terrain trampled by tens of thousands of invading foreign
migrants. See what the American elites’ support of broken borders,
unfettered illegal immigration and sanctuary cities is doing to our
fellow Americans who live on our borderlands, and how these failed
policies imperil our nation’s safety, security and prosperity.

With your support MCDC continues to make Border Security and Illegal
Immigration a national priority that must be resolved. Now more than
ever we need your help to continue the fight.

OK my friends, I think this will do it -now spread my words far and wide!

Volunteer NOW - Donate NOW!

*YOU can make a REAL DIFFERENCE*. So, for your sake, for the sake of
your children, your grandchildren, and for generations to come, *please
help MCDC* continue its fight to protect and preserve the United States
of America and defend our Constitution.

Sincerely for these United States,

Chris Simcox, President
Minuteman Civil Defense Corps

More at Hot Air

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Illegals foes reject nod to Huckabee
By Jerry Seper
The Washington Times
12-13-2007
(Excerpted, click here to read the rest)

Minuteman co-founder James Gilchrist's endorsement of presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has spurred a backlash among illegal-immigration opponents who say the former Arkansas governor is soft on immigration enforcement.

"Mike Huckabee is pro-amnesty and favors a path to citizenship for illegal aliens currently in the U.S. that would require a lifting of current penalties," said William Gheen, whose 25,000-member Americans for Legal Immigration sent mass mailings yesterday to more than 300 pro-enforcement groups.

"Huckabee has released an immigration plan that contains the deceptive 'touch back' provision that the pushers of amnesty tried on us in Washington this year," he said. "He wants to trick the nation by having illegal aliens leave for a day to pick up new papers at an office set up across the border and then walk right back."

(snip)

Bob Wright, who heads the Patriots' Border Alliance, another Minuteman splinter group, said although Mr. Gilchrist helped move the issue of illegal entry into the U.S. "to it's rightful place on the national stage," his endorsement of Mr. Huckabee "is at best disturbing."

"While I believe it is possible for a professional politician to change his mind on a subject as he becomes more informed, I have serious doubts that is the case with Huckabee," Mr. Wright said. "His past rhetoric about the goals of Minutemen everywhere has been vicious — parroting the tired and discredited foolishness that an American citizen's desire to see the law enforced is somehow racist or xenophobic."

(snip)

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Best-selling author says Huckabee's tough talk on immigration doesn't match his record

"Huckabee has the same problem on immigration that Mitt Romney has -- and that is Mitt Romney and Huckabee, as governors, do not have a strong secure border record. And Huckabee's record is terrible," according to Jerome Corsi, an adamant border hawk. (be sure to go to the source and read the whole article)

I would argue that while Romney's record is less than stellar, he's head and shoulders above the duplicitous Huckster (whose record on immigration is detailed on this blog, just scroll down). While Romney tolerated sanctuary cities in his state, Huckabee encouraged them by rewarding illegal aliens with scholarships, discounted college tuition, and state benefits.

Huckabee also established a Mexican Consular office in Little Rock, which "increases the capacity of the Mexican state to bring attention, protection, and assistance to all of those living abroad, independently from their immigration status", according to Mexican ambassador Arturo Sarukhan. It also issues "matricula consular" cards, with which illegal aliens can open bank accounts and obtain other services.

In 2003, Huckabee (on a state-owned aircraft) to Mexico with Robert Trevino, who was the director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (aka LULAC) and Huckabee's "Economic Development adviser". There they met with Vincente Fox.

In 2006, Arkansas leased government office space, including furniture, to the Mexican government for $1 per year to house the Consular office until they built their own headquarters. It's unclear whether this subsidized lease was in violation of state law.

Read more about this:

Critics question Huckabee's role in establishing Mexican consulate in Little Rock

Legality of Huckabee's Mexican consulate deal questioned

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The REAL Mike Huckabee

[glide625]

Immigration is a lost cause, but it’s the lost cause that will sink the Republican ship. Having successfully alienated the entirety of the Hispanic population in a last ditch effort to regain control of the borders, Republicans have managed to do to themselves what the Dems could have never succeeded in doing, i.e. marginalizing the Republicans and relegating them to the lost Anglo past of American history. Brilliant move!

[DesScorp]

In other words, Huckabee is a liar, just like Romney and Rudy. He’s changing his tune to get the nomination.

A lot like another politician from Hope, Arkansas...

[taxed2death]

“some of the rage is fueled by prejudice.”

Possibly a small percentage...but by and large it’s about taxpayer monies and the current government sanctioned two tiered (black market / illegal) business climate.

[bill1952]

Ah BS. The legals don’t conform to your blustering bullsh*t, and the illegals are voting democrat.

Face it, you are a simple fool.

[brothers4thID]

I still can’t figure out Gilchrist’s endorsement. Did Chuck Norris twist his arm?