Republican Presidential Candidates Spar on Immigration Enforcement
Here, courtesy of the NY Times, is a transcript of the 2012 Republican presidential debate on Sept. 7, 2011, at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. The candidates participating were:
REP. RON PAUL, R-TEXAS
GOV. RICK PERRY, R-TEXAS
FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY, R-MASS.
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN, R-MINN.
HERMAN CAIN
FORMER REP. NEWT GINGRICH, R-GA.
FORMER GOV. JON HUNTSMAN JR., R-UTAH
FORMER SEN. RICK SANTORUM, R-PA.
Not surprisingly, immigration came up in the debate. For the portions of the debate discussing immigration, see Download Immigration republican debate.
The candidates for the most part focused about the need for increased enforcement, with extending the border fence a consensus among the group. As in past recent discussions of immigration, the candidates generally tried to appear tougher than the others on immigration.
Governor Rick Perry repeatedly emphasized the need for more federal “boots on the ground.”
Sounding a good deal more hawkish on immigration than in the Iowa debate, Mitt Romney endorsed a fence and advocated the need to take on the “magnets” for undocumented immigration:
“when employers are willing to hire people who are here illegally, that’s a magnet, and it draws them in. And we went in and talked about sanctuary cities, giving tuition breaks to the kids of illegal aliens, employers that, employers that knowingly hire people who are here illegally. Those things also have to be stopped.”
It sounds like Mitt now opposes the DREAM Act.
Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann raised the specter of narcoterrorism, drug violence in Mexico, etc. as a justification for more border enforcement.
Representative Bachmann appears to think that talking to a handful of Cuban Americans in Miami gives her special insight into the views of the entire “Hispanic American community”:
“One thing that the American people have said to me over and over again — and I was just last week down in Miami. I was visiting the Bay of Pigs Museum with Cuban-Americans. I was down at the Versailles Cafe. I met with a number of people, and it’s very interesting. The Hispanic-American community wants us to stop giving taxpayer- subsidized benefits to illegal aliens and benefits, and they want us to stop giving taxpayer-subsidized benefits to their children as well.”
I bet that Rep. Bachmann would hear something very different from Chicanos in East Los Angeles. Just a guess. I would also guess that the “illegal aliens” the Cubans in Miami were talking about were all Chicanos in Los Angeles.
Jon Hunstman was the only candidate to seriously talk about immigration as a “human issue” and the need for reform of legal immigration in order to gain control over undocumented immigration and to improve the economy.
KJ