Thread: Huckabee's Got Everybody Mad At Him

Click the link and you can post your comment at the bottom of this article.

Immigration ally: Shame on Huckabee
by Frank James

Gov. Mike Huckabee's increasingly hawkish view on immigration is drawing the ire of immigration advocates who criticize the Republican presidential candidate for going from a relatively humane position on dealing with illegal immigrants to a get-tough approach that would give the undocumented four months to exit the U.S., period.

Huckabee recently introduced his "Secure America" plan which includes a proposal that, if enacted, would require the estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal immigrants in the country to immediately register with the Customs and Immigration Enforcement agency, then give them 120 days to voluntarily leave the country. His plan suggests this approach is the only way to prevent an amnesty.

Those who failed to leave would be face deportation if arrested and would be barred from re-entering the U.S. for 10 years. The dislocation the sudden "voluntary' exit of 12 million to 20 million people would cause to communities across the U.S. isn't dealt with in Huckabee's proposal.

The position is clearly an attempt by Huckabee to accomplish two things. The mood is such in much of the nation, particularly among many Republicans who will vote in the Iowa caucuses and early primaries, to crack down on illegal immigration, and Huckabee is trying to synchronize his view with those voters.

But Huckabee is also trying to neutralize his past. As Arkansas's governor, Huckabee supported in-state college tuition for young illegal immigrants. This has left him vulnerable to attacks from his Republican opponents, particularly former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to whom Huckabee poses the largest threat in Iowa.

So Huckabee is attempting to beat back the Romney and others competing for the GOP nomination. To do so, he is now taking a hard line. But as Clarissa Martinez, the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform campaign manager points out in a statement, that is causing some cognitive dissonance with some of Huckabee's earlier statements. Here's a statement Martinez issued:

Just a couple of weeks ago Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee had what appeared to be a shining moment of strength and leadership on the issue of immigration when he refused to take Mitt Romney’s bait, instead declaring: "In all due respect, we are a better country than to punish children for what their parents did."
Well, we admit it, we were fooled. It certainly seemed as though Governor Huckabee was going to do the right thing focusing on solutions and refraining from the immigration pile-on being waged by his competitors. Boy, were we wrong!

What a Difference a Week Makes

In a stunning reversal from the compassion and leadership he showed just two weeks ago, Governor Huckabee has now released his 9-point Immigration Strategy, which among other things, calls for the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country to leave within 120 days. This week Huckabee also announced he will begin airing a new TV spot focused on immigration and intended to echo the hard line rhetoric of his rivals.

His new plan makes no mention of those children or being a “better countryâ€

Good, he is a traitor and I would love nothing more than to see he and Bush in the same jail cell.

He is Bush with a brain!

I am so confused! This article makes no mention of illegal aliens being allowed to "return legally" in a form of "touch-back" amnesty scheme after they had left the country, which I thought was the Huckabee plan which Jim Gilchrist endorsed: that certainly would make me oppose him. However, if his plan comes from the Center for Immigration Studies, and simply involves requiring all illegal aliens to register and leave the country within a prescribed period of time without being allowed to return, then it would be excellent to have such a plan before the public. However, I have a feeling that is too good to be true.

Well don't have the documentation readily available; however what I saw in the past stated 48 hours and they are back here legally. One good drug deal will make that super easy for the illegal and his or her entire family.

I heard Huckabee say the illegal aliens could return in a day or two when he asked how long they would have to stay out of the country. I'm thinking it was when he was in the debate just before this last one and got into it with Romney.

You're right tiny, it was just a 14 hour drive back to Mexico; buy your way back in with $2,500... and you're ready to melt down our children with all the drugs you can bring at the same time.

Nice deal if you're an illegal... bad deal if you are an innocent, tax paying American.

First we should determine our foreign labor needs based on jobs that can't be filled by Americans. We should also take into account our population growth.

Not only should these illegals go back home but I think those immigrants already waiting to come here legally should be given the chance to fill any available jobs first. They already jumped ahead in the line by coming here illegally. Are we to give them the chance to do it again by allowing them to return in a couple days rather then giving other immigrants a chance?

I am all for the quota system to. Too many immigrants from just one country or ethnic group does not encourage assimilation and it isn't fair to other immigrants.

My husband migrated here from Belgium. He had to prove he had no diseases, had work lined up and had a sponsor in the event he could not support himself. We had to provide credit apps from friends of ours' here showing he would not be a burden on taxpayers.

Illegals have no responsibility.. They do come here with disease, they can come here as wards of our welfare system. They undercut your pay, obviously they don't have to pay 30% federal income tax... they have free everything.

All I know is Mexico must have some darn good drugs... cause Bush has been stoned for about 7 years now.

a get-tough approach that would give the undocumented four months to exit the U.S., period.

This is incorrect, the illegal aliens sign up in America to leave for a day or few hours to pick up new documents and return to the US legally. This writer is wrong about the Huckabee plan. Huckabee is not calling for mass expulsions.

If he were, we would be on board.

W