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Gingrich says he is 'not for amnesty,' defends immigration stance
The Hill ^ | 11/26/11 | Meghashyam Mali

Posted on 11/26/2011 1:01:37 PM PST by presidio9

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich defended his immigration stance Friday, claiming that he was "not for amnesty."

“I am not for amnesty for anyone. I am not for a path to citizenship for anybody who got here illegally,” Gingrich said at a town hall event in Naples, Florida according to media reports.

“But I am for a path to legality for those people whose ties run so deeply in America that it would truly be a tragedy to try and rip their family apart," said the former House Speaker.

Gingrich has been under fire from some anti-illegal immigration groups since last Tuesday's GOP debate where he spoke out against deporting many illegal immigrant families.

During Friday’s town hall, Gingrich said that if elected he would make securing the border a priority and would support efforts to make English the country's official language.

He said he would also establish a guest-worker program to allow migrants to work in the U.S. But under such a program, businesses which hired undocumented workers would be hit with fines.

"I would have very, very stiff economic penalties for anyone who hires somebody who is not legally inside the system," Gingrich vowed.

At last Tuesday’s GOP debate, Gingrich said that he supported efforts to allow tax-paying illegal immigrants without criminal records to remain in the country or gain citizenship.

“If you've come here recently, you have no ties to this country, you ought to go home, period,” Gingrich had said. “If you've been here 25 years and you got three kids and two grandkids, you've been paying taxes and obeying the law, you belong to a local church, I don't think we're going to separate you from your family, uproot you forcefully and kick you out.”

"I don't see how the party that says it's the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families which have been here a quarter-century," he added. "I'm prepared to take the heat for saying let's be humane in enforcing the law."

Gingrich has faced criticism for his comments from other Republicans. Rep. Michelle Bachmann (Minn.) said in an interview that Gingrich had the “most liberal position on illegal immigration of any of the candidates in the race.”

Influential Iowa congressman Rep. Steve King (R) described Gingrich’s proposals as a “form of amnesty”

“I wouldn’t agree with him on that policy,” King added, suggesting that Gingrich had hurt his chances of winning his endorsement prior to the Iowa caucuses.

The furor over Gingrich’s immigration stance comes as new national polls place him ahead of Romney in the GOP field.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: amnewtsty; heartless; reevaluategingrich; the2bobs
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To: RasterMaster

Perry has strengthened gun owners rights over and over.

The reason those illegals are able to sue is because this becomes a Federal matter, since it was a federal agent that shot them. Hopefully the Agent wins in court.

Had those illegals been in my home, Texas law would be on my side. and I would be within the law.

You are mixing apples and oranges.


141 posted on 11/26/2011 3:00:35 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: SoConPubbie; presidio9

I hate to break it to you but the Fourteenth Amendment is a lot more than an excuse for not doing the right thing.

Anyone facing deportation is going to want a hearing, and going to get one.

And he will not be faced with any “class-action” civil charges against him et 12-20M alia.

And there is no law anywhere that says he MUST be deported, even if found guilty.


142 posted on 11/26/2011 3:00:35 PM PST by Lady Lucky
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To: South40

They must profit in some way or another, or have an illegal alien in the family.

Did you hear about this one already?
http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2011/11/post_108.html

“Alabama House Majority Leader Micky Hammon credits new immigration law with lowering state unemployment”

Published: Saturday, November 19, 2011, 9:00 AM


143 posted on 11/26/2011 3:00:58 PM PST by Borax Queen
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To: presidio9
So, you solution appears to be one of the following two options: To do nothing, and assume that the problem will solve itself. Or to round up the illegals, put them in cattle cars, and ship them south. The second is untenable, for a variety of reasons, and will doom the GOP for a minimum of two generations. If you prefer the first, you're probably suggesting that a person could be shipped south as soon as they were legally identified. This will amount to a trickle. What is required is an intelligent plan to address the problem and the balls to suggest it in the middle of a political campaign.

There's a reason I keep asking people attacking Newt for alternatives. They are few and far between.


In which alternate universe are you posting?

Show me where I have advocated for either of those two solutions on this thread or anywhere else?

And since your characterization of my proposed solutions is so fallacious, I guess I will repost it for the umpteenth time:

1. Actually enforce existing Immigration laws (which we are not doing today)
2. Build the COMPLETE border fence, not just in "Urban areas" as Newt proposed which actually comprise 1/10 of 1 percent of the border.
3. Implement E-Verify for all employment and all acquisition of Social Services.
144 posted on 11/26/2011 3:05:06 PM PST by SoConPubbie
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To: presidio9
"I like my plan where I'm married to Jennifer Connelly"

Now you've done it! I HATE that plan.

145 posted on 11/26/2011 3:05:53 PM PST by moehoward
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To: magna carta

Thank You MC!


146 posted on 11/26/2011 3:06:07 PM PST by South40 (Just say NO to amnesty. Say NO to Newt!)
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To: Grunthor

So if you get a ticket for going 3mph over the speed limit we should take your license away?

Of course not, the law has degrees of violation.
Not everyone who is here illegally is an axe murderer.
Many entered legally and overstayed Visas.

You want to treat all situations the same with harsh measures.
Some of those measures are ridiculous. They place a Tax burden on US citizens and take away US citizens land.


147 posted on 11/26/2011 3:06:24 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: cripplecreek

I have to run now, but I was thinking that we should play a game on these threads. We could come up with a saying similar to the “Godwin’s Law.”

We can invoke it when the first post appears about “cattle cars,” (or calling anyone Stalin or Hitler). That poster loses.

It’s just like you said yesterday....


148 posted on 11/26/2011 3:06:39 PM PST by Borax Queen
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To: mylife

Perry is also for “path to citizenship” amnesty. Regardless of what you call it, allowing them to stay after breaking the law is amnesty. Rewarding bad behavior only encourages others to follow the same “path”.


149 posted on 11/26/2011 3:07:18 PM PST by RasterMaster ("To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." - Abraham Lincoln)
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To: presidio9
Your so-called litmus test is not enforceable and you and Newt know it.

You think there'll be a law that says a 25yr old man without criminal conviction can stay but the illegal welfare mom he lives with must be deported?

No. Absolutely not.

Everyone who has not been convicted of a felony AND got picked up again will get to stay, no matter what hoops they do or do not jump through.

As for his contention that he would seal the border, that's put hogwash. Everyone know that without a impenetrable fence from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico the border is not "secure".

Oh, and the fact that the illegals cannot ever vote or gain citizenship? Do you think they care, or those now planning their own nefarious invasion of the US homeland? Do you not think their children will vote?

150 posted on 11/26/2011 3:08:09 PM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: mylife

“So if you get a ticket for going 3mph over the speed limit we should take your license away?”

If I am an illegal alien you should take my fake license away and then deport my parasitic carcass back to whatever third world hell-hole spawned me!


151 posted on 11/26/2011 3:09:00 PM PST by Grunthor (pro-illegal alien "conservatives" piss me off.)
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To: presidio9

I haven’t heard Gingrich make any distinction between amnesty and legality, but a good working model might be: amnesty is waiving punishment, whether before or after due process of law (trial), and legality can mean one’s status AFTER having faced the music, paid a penalty and then normalized one’s status by registering in a temporary worker program, if eligible.

Just a thought, since everyone seems intent on conflating the two terms.


152 posted on 11/26/2011 3:10:35 PM PST by Lady Lucky
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To: Lady Lucky; presidio9
I hate to break it to you but the Fourteenth Amendment is a lot more than an excuse for not doing the right thing.

Anyone facing deportation is going to want a hearing, and going to get one.


Well the 14th amendment was adopted on July 9, 1868.

Just how did Eisenhower deport 2 million illegals in the 1950's?

Also, I'm not advocating Forced Deportions. My simple plan will force them to self deport.
153 posted on 11/26/2011 3:10:44 PM PST by SoConPubbie
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To: SoConPubbie
He needs to enforce the laws as is, build the COMPLETE fence NOW, and implement E-Verify for all employment and acquisition of social services.

You have my vote on that.
154 posted on 11/26/2011 3:11:56 PM PST by presently no screen name ( “If it’s not in God’s Word - don’t pass it off as truth! That’s satan’s job. “)
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To: Borax Queen
Excellent news! Thank you BQ!

Here is another. Pay special attention to post #11.

The article highlights how the Alabama law has sent ILLEGALs packing which has resulted in a lowered unemployment rate for Alabama citizens. And naturally, the pro-ILLEGAL alien supporter deemed that bad thing.

If an individual is siding with ILLEGAL aliens over American citizens they are certainly not conservative.

155 posted on 11/26/2011 3:13:58 PM PST by South40 (Just say NO to amnesty. Say NO to Newt!)
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To: SoConPubbie
1. Actually enforce existing Immigration laws (which we are not doing today)

In Gingrich's plan.

2. Build the COMPLETE border fence, not just in "Urban areas" as Newt proposed which actually comprise 1/10 of 1 percent of the border.

You are obsessed with the border fence. I get it. I have to break it to you: Gingrich's plan does not actually rule one out. His plan focuses, however, on more realistic and immediate solutions. Among my favorites:

This bill will waive every obstacle to controlling the border and would shift resources to achieve virtually 100% control by January 1, 2014. If necessary, we would move one-half of the 23,000 Washington-area Department of Homeland Security bureaucrats to the Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona borders.

3. Implement E-Verify for all employment and all acquisition of Social Services.

In Gingrich's plan. Next?

156 posted on 11/26/2011 3:14:09 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: Grunthor

I am speaking to the notion of misdemeanors being the same as felony’s.

They are not the same thing.


157 posted on 11/26/2011 3:14:13 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

Besides, foreigners who broke the law to get here or get shot in the process should have zero legal standing to sue in American courts.


158 posted on 11/26/2011 3:14:20 PM PST by RasterMaster ("To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." - Abraham Lincoln)
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To: presidio9
You are obsessed with the border fence. I get it. I have to break it to you: Gingrich's plan does not actually rule one out. His plan focuses, however, on more realistic and immediate solutions. Among my favorites:

Apparently you are the one who has not read Gingrich's plan.

With regards to border fencing, he only wants it in "Urban areas".
159 posted on 11/26/2011 3:17:54 PM PST by SoConPubbie
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To: RasterMaster

Thanks for the helpful definition of amnesty.

For “legality,” we might think of a person having paid his debt to society. Someone sentenced to a year in prison, for example, spends his year in prison, walks out free. Legal.
Whereas if he had received amnesty, he might not have gone to prison at all, and the offense would not be on his record.


160 posted on 11/26/2011 3:18:51 PM PST by Lady Lucky
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