Gingrich Stands Out on Immigration at GOP Debate
During the presidential debate on Tuesday night, presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich stepped out on a limb and called for a more lenient stance towards immigration, especially if the family has been established and is an upstanding individual.
Gingrich noted before he made his comment that he was taking a risky stance but proved to be the right thing to do. He said, “I’m prepared to take the heat for saying ‘Let’s be humane in enforcing the law….’”
Romney, whose position as the Republican leading contender is threatened by Gingrich's rise, said that any form of amnesty, like creating a path to permanent legal residence as the former House speaker advocated, would in turn act as "a magnet" for others immigrants to enter the country illegally.
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Gingrich explained his idea to Rep. Michele Bachmann.
“You find people who have been here 25 years, and have two generations of family, and have been paying taxes, and are in a local church, and as somebody who believes strongly in family, you’re going to have a hard time explaining why that particular subset is being broken up and forced to leave,” said Gingrich.
Still Romney was not convinced that was the best course of action: "That will only encourage more people to do the same thing. People respond to incentives," the former Massachusetts governor said. "If you could become a permanent resident of the United States by coming here illegally, you'll do so."
The debate was the 11th in a series of televised forums that has strongly influenced voter perceptions of the GOP contenders and altered the candidates' standing in the polls. With actual voting about to start in a matter of weeks, the pace of the campaign, and the stakes in each debate, are increasing dramatically.
Starting next month, the candidates will enter the most intense, and potentially most consequential, debate period of the entire 2012 campaign.
Eight TV forums, timed to coincide with the initial primary and caucus contests, will be held between Dec. 10 and Jan. 26 and take place in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.
