Huckabee vows to send all illegal aliens home
By Stephen Dinan
January 17, 2008




Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who campaigned yesterday at North Greenville University in Tigerville, S.C., introduced an immigration plan that makes his position on illegal aliens one of the toughest among the Republican presidential contenders. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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TIGERVILLE, S.C. — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee yesterday continued to move to the right on immigration during this year's presidential campaign, signing a pledge to enforce immigration laws and to make all illegal aliens go home.



The pledge, offered by immigration control advocacy group Numbers USA, commits Mr. Huckabee to oppose a new path to citizenship for current illegal aliens and to cut the number of illegal aliens already in the country through attrition by law enforcement — something Mr. Huckabee said he will achieve through his nine-point immigration plan.



"Some would say it's a tough plan. It is, but it's also fair and reasonable," Mr. Huckabee said.



Mr. Huckabee signed the pledge in South Carolina, whose Saturday Republican primary is shaping up as the most important contest so far. Unlike the previous primaries and caucuses, which have been contested usually by just two candidates, four Republicans are making all-out efforts here: Mr. Huckabee, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.



Mr. Romney campaigned in South Carolina fresh off his Tuesday win over Mr. McCain in Michigan's primary. And though he held a lead here earlier last year, he tried to lower expectations yesterday, telling reporters that the pressure is really on Mr. McCain, who now leads in the polls here.



As the front-runner, Mr. McCain finds himself playing defense. Yesterday, he had one surrogate challenge charges on abortion and other issues from Common Sense Issues, a Colorado-based group that the Associated Press said is conducting push-polling here, and had another group of surrogates respond to charges from a group called Vietnam Veterans Against McCain.



The McCain campaign said the veterans group is circulating fliers that say Mr. McCain turned his back on fellow prisoners of war in order to receive special treatment while in captivity in Vietnam.



One issue that continues to hurt Mr. McCain here is immigration. Many voters say he supports amnesty for illegal aliens, and they point to his partnership with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, to try to pass a bill to legalize illegal aliens
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