Our guest bloggers are Ann Garcia, Research Assistant for Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress and Mayu Takeda, former Intern at the Center for American Progress.
The interactive below looks at the current field of potential Republican nominees for president and evaluates their stances on various immigration-related issues based on comments made in debates, interviews, and news stories. Click on a candidate to view selected comments.
We will work to update this as the 2012 presidential primary unfolds in the coming months.
All positions current as of February 17, 2012.
| Candidate | Immigration reform | Border security | Mass deportation | State and local immigration laws | DREAM Act & In-State Tuition |
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 Newt GingrichFormer Speaker of the House |
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 Ron PaulRepresentative from Texas |
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 Mitt RomneyFormer Governor of Massachusetts |
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 Rick SantorumFormer Senator from Pennsylvania |
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Newt Gingrich
Immigration reform
“We need to have a practical, honest conversation about how to have a series of steps that get us to legality for the entire country. That does mean, I believe, most of the people who are here who have no real connections will go home and apply for a guest worker program — or somebody yesterday said maybe “temporary worker” is a better title — but a program where they’re going to be here to work with no expectation of citizenship, but a real expectation that they’re going to earn an income and they’re going to be better off than they were back home.”
Source: Univision, January 25, 2012.
“Now, I don’t think we’re going to deport grandmothers and grandfathers who have 25 years of networking and relationships in a community. So I’ve suggested a World War II-style draft board where local citizens would review the applications. You could only apply if you proved that you were financially responsible, you proved you had genuine family ties, and you had an American family sponsor you.
You still wouldn’t get amnesty. You wouldn’t get citizenship. You would get a residency permit.
In order to apply for a citizenship, you would have to go back to your own country and get in line behind everybody else and be processed as a person from that country. But I think this is a doable, solvable, practical solution. And I think trying to deport grandmothers and grandfathers will never pass the Congress and would never be accepted by the American people.”
Source: Republican Debate, January 19, 2012.
“I do not believe that the American people are going to tolerate going after somebody who has been here 25 years, who has a family, has children and grandchildren, belongs to a local church. What I proposed is very standard things. Control the border by January 1, 2014. Make English the official language of government. Go to a much better visa program that’s much… that makes it more desirable to visit the U.S. Legally. Go to a better deportation program to move people out who shouldn’t be here. Have a guest worker program outsourced to American Express, Visa or MasterCard so that you know that fraud is very unlikely. And have much steeper penalties for employers who hire people illegally. In that context what I’ve said which I think most people think is common sense which is there is a group of people who have been here a long time. We’ve talked about creating a citizenry view board in the World War II selective service model.”
“If somebody has been here a long time and has an American family willing to sponsor them, they should be subject to review to get a residency permit not citizenship but a residency permit. I disagree with some of my friends. I do not believe the American people are going to send police out to round up folks who have been here 25 years.”
“Seven or eight or nine million would go home and get a guest worker permit and come back under the law. The last two million are people who have been here a very long time. They are really part of the community. They’re not citizens but they’re part of the community. The folks, you and I may well know some of these folks. And 25 years ago, they did something wrong but they’ve been very good neighbors. They belong to the local church. As I said one of the requirements would be they have to have an American family sponsor them to be eligible for review by the Citizen Review Board. I think it’s a responsible position that recognizes the humanity of the problem but firmly establishes the rule of law.”
Source: CBS News, December 18, 2011.
“We [Mitt Romney and I] disagree some on what you do with very, very long-term people here. I think somebody who has been here 25 years and has family here and has local family supporting them ought to have some kind of civilian certification.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 15, 2011.
“That’s why you have the citizen review panel…The person has to have been here 25 years, have genuine ties to the community, be a good citizen, and have an American family sponsor them. And they still don’t get citizenship. This is not amnesty. They get residency. And they pay a penalty in order to get residency.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 10, 2011.
“I would rather have my fate decided by a jury of my peers than have my fate determined by a Washington bureaucrat.”
Source: LA Times, December 4, 2011.
“I would support a universal registration of those who are here illegally. And I think the immediate — you’d have immediate deportation if you did not sign up within a certain time.”
Source: Fox News, November 28, 2011.
“I am not for amnesty for anyone. I am not for a path to citizenship for anybody who got here illegally… But I am for a path to legality for those people whose ties are so deeply into America that it would truly be tragic to try and rip their family apart.”
“I think the vast majority [of undocumented immigrants] will go home and should go home and then should reapply. I do not think anybody should be eligible for citizenship…I am suggesting a certification of legality with no right to vote and no right to become an American citizen unless they go home and apply through the regular procedures back home and get in line behind everybody else who has obeyed the law and stayed back there.”
Source: MSNBC, November 25, 2011.
“So I think you’ve got to deal with this as a comprehensive approach that starts with controlling the border, as the governor said. I believe ultimately you have to find some system — once you’ve put every piece in place, which includes the guest worker program, you need something like a World War II Selective Service Board that, frankly, reviews the people who are here.”
“I do believe if you’ve been here recently and have no ties to the U.S., we should deport you. I do believe we should control the border. I do believe we should have very severe penalties for employers, but I would urge all of you to look at the Krieble Foundation Plan.”
“I don’t see how the — the party that says it’s the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century. And I’m prepared to take the heat for saying, let’s be humane in enforcing the law without giving them citizenship but by finding a way to create legality so that they are not separated from their families.”
Source: Republican Debate, November 22, 2011.
“[Undocumented immigrants] should pay a penalty, but they should then get a Red Card which would not put them on the road for citizenship, but it would bring them in from illegality…it would make them part of the community, and their children and grandchildren could aspire to become American citizens.”
Source: Third Age, October 20, 2011.
“Control the border by January 1, 2014 and establish English as the official language of government; reform the legal visa system, and make it much easier to deport criminals and gang members while making it easier for law abiding visitors to come to the US.”
Source: 21st Century Contract with America, September 29, 2011.
“And I favor modernizing the legal visa system to make it far more convenient, far easier and far more practical. Here in Orlando, where we have a huge interest in people being able to visit easily for tourism, we have a terribly antiquated legal system while our border is too open for people who are illegal.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 22, 2011.
“On the other hand, you have someone who came here at 3 years of age and now they’re 19… I suspect we’re going to want to find some way to enable them to move toward legality, if not citizenship.”
Source: Orlando Sentinel, September 14, 2011.
“Let’s find a human, common-sense, intermediary step. Not citizenship. But not expulsion. Maybe it gets involved with paying a very substantial penalty. Because they have broken the law. And maybe that penalty is a function of how long they’ve been here and therefore a function of how much they gotta pay over time. But I think you want to find a practical, common-sense solution within a framework of controlling the border, having a guest worker program, and immediately expelling criminals, and requiring people who have no ties to the US to go back home.”
Source: CNN, September 13, 2011.
“In 1986, I voted for the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, which in fact did grant some amnesty in return for promises…We ought to control the border, we ought to have a legal guest worker program. We ought to outsource it, frankly, to American Express, Visa, and MasterCard, so there’s no counterfeiting, which there will be with the federal government. We should be very tough on employers once you have that legal program.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 7, 2011.
“We got to find the way to routinize and get them in the law without necessarily getting them on a path to citizenship. Now there ought to be a way to do that…We may want to think about a citizen board that can actually look at things and decide, is this a person that came in two months ago and doesn’t nearly have any ties here? Or is this a person who clearly is integrated into the society but unfortunately has been undocumented, therefore, we have to rethink how we are approaching them.”
Source: Think Progress, May 16, 2011.
“But this particular [immigration reform] deal is as big a disaster as any Republican has had in my lifetime. And I predict if, in fact, it gets through the Senate, it will be a disaster for every Republican senator and a lot of Democratic senators is I think the anger is bipartisan. Tax-paying Americans do not want to be told that international gang members are going to be amnestied. They don’t want to be told that, as long as you are illegal you don’t have to pay your back taxes. And they don’t want to be told that their desire to enforce the law means that they’re bigots.”
Source: Fox News, May 21, 2007.
“Zero Tolerance for Amnesty…And doing it the right way means that all those who are currently working in the United States illegally and who wish to apply for the worker visa program must return to their home country and apply. Application for the worker visa program should not be permitted in the United States under any circumstances.”
Source: American Enterprise Institute, April 26, 2006.
Border security
“On day one…I would begin the process of completing control of the border by January 1st, 2014.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 15, 2011.
“In 25 years, we haven’t been able to build a fence on the border because we’ve not been a serious country. It takes serious leadership doing serious things. This is an example. There are dozens of things like this that have to get done for us to rebuild this country.”
Source: Missouri News Horizon, December 2, 2011.
BILL O’REILLY (Host, Fox News): “Border fence, would you put a border fence from Brownsville in San Diego if you were president?”
GINGRICH: “Yes.”
O’REILLY: “Would you move the National Guard down to the border in certain precincts that are dangerous and would put the U.S. National Guard to back up the border.”
GINGRICH: “Sure, I would use whatever — look I would use whatever resources we needed to. I’ve said, you know 23,000 Department of Homeland Security employees in the Washington D.C. area. I’d move half of them to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona if we need the manpower.”
Source: Fox News, November 28, 2011.
“I would be prepared to take as many people from Homeland Security’s bureaucracy in Washington and move them to Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, as are needed, to control the border.”
Source: Republican Debate, August 11, 2011.
“First of all, you control the border. We can ask the National Guard to go to Iraq. We ask the National Guard to go to Kuwait. We ask the National Guard to go to Afghanistan. Somehow we would have done more for American security if we had had the National Guard on the border.”
Source: Republican Debate, June 13, 2011.
I think where there are large concentrations of people, you have fences. Where there are not large concentrations of people, you have electronic devices. I think you apply the amount of manpower you need to do the job.”
Source: American Enterprise Institute, April 26, 2006.
Mass deportation
“Remember that I talked very specifically about people who have been here a long time, who are grandmothers and grandfathers, who have been paying their bills, they have been working, they are part of the community. Now, for Romney to believe that somebody’s grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self-deport, I mean this verges — this is an Obama-level fantasy.
I just think the idea we’re going to deport grandmothers and grandfathers is a sufficient level of inhumanity — first of all, it’s never going to happen.”
Source: Univision, January 25, 2012.
“Seven or eight or nine million would go home and get a guest worker permit and come back under the law. The last two million are people who have been here a very long time.”
Source: CBS News, December 18, 2011.
“I think most of the workers who are here who have no ties to us should go home immediately. I think we should make deportation dramatically easier.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 10, 2011.
“I don’t think we’re going to send the police in to break up their family and deport them.”
“I believe somebody who comes along and promises, ‘We’re going to kick all of them out,’ I don’t believe is going to happen… I don’t want to start down the road on policies that have promises that are hopeless.”
Source: Des Moines Register, November 30, 2011.
“If you’re here — if you’ve come here recently, you have no ties to this country, you ought to go home. Period. 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 want to say ‘go home’ to lots of people…I’m willing to be tough, but I’m not willing to kid people. And I can’t imagine any serious person here in this country who believes that we ought to tear families apart that have been here 20 or 25 years.”
Source: Republican Debate, November 22, 2011.
“I do not think this country is going to go around deporting good people. It is a huge advantage to us to get people inside the law.”
Source: Sioux City Journal, September 20, 2011.
“I think we are going to want to find some way to deal with the people who are here to distinguish between those who have no ties to the United States and therefore you can deport them at minimum human cost, and those who, in fact, may have earned the right to become legal, but not citizens.”
Source: Radio Iowa, May 19, 2011.
“We are not going to deport 11 million people…There has to be some zone between deportation and amnesty.”
Source: Politico, December 2, 2010.
“I’m against our running around trying to deport people. I think that that is not a sustainable policy. I think it is an anti-human policy.”
Source: American Enterprise Institute , April 26, 2006.
State and local immigration laws
“On the very first day that I’m inaugurated, I will issue an executive order to the Justice Department to drop the lawsuits against South Carolina, Alabama and Arizona.”
Source: Republican Debate, January 19, 2012.
“On day one, I would drop all the lawsuits against Arizona, South Carolina, and Alabama. It is wrong for the government…I would propose cutting off all federal aid to any sanctuary city that deliberately violated federal law.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 15, 2011.
“We should have every state enforcing the law and, in fact, I would propose cutting off all federal funds to any city that declares itself a ‘sanctuary city.”
Source: Think Progress, November 29, 2011.
“Clearly the Obama administration has been comfortable allowing foreign governments to enter a lawsuit against an American state. So here’s a simple way to think of it: President Obama sided with Mexico, I would side with South Carolina.”
Source: ABC News, November 29, 2011.
“Let me just say, I would reward and encourage South Carolina, Arizona and those states that are correctly using local law enforcement and I would withdraw the federal lawsuits because they are doing the right thing trying to help us find people who are here illegally.”
Source: Fox News, November 28, 2011.
“Look, we’re going to propose a bill that cutoff all federal funding to any sanctuary city or sanctuary state. They get no money of any kind from the federal government, period as of that moment and if San Francisco wants to bankrupt itself and some fantasy it’s fine.”
Source: Fox News, November 28, 2011.
“South Carolinians…have actually passed a law that I think is a pretty reasonable law – that basically says if you pull somebody over for legitimate reasons, you can ask them whether or not they’re a citizen. This is the opposite of sanctuary states. Think of it as enforcement society rather than a sanctuary society.”
Source: National Journal, November 28, 2011.
“After years of failure on the part of the federal government to achieve border security, it is an outrage that the Obama Administration would seek to block South Carolina and other states who choose to pick up the slack.”
Source: The Hill, November 1, 2011.
DREAM Act and in-state tuition
“I am for half of the DREAM Act. I am not for the whole DREAM Act, but I am for the part that says if you are in the United States, even if your parents brought you illegally, if you are here, you have the same right to sign up in the military and earn citizenship.”
Source: Univision, January 25, 2012.
GENESA SAN GUELO (Student at Miami-Dade College): “On your website, Newt.org, you propose a system that establishes legality but not citizenship for immigrants with a long set of family and community ties, and I believe that is the language you use. Would you support in-state college tuition for students born in the United States of undocumented parents who, at the moment, pay out of state tuition?”
GINGRICH: “Obviously, for in-state, for students born in the United States, even if they are of undocumented parents, you would want them to have in-state tuition because they were born in the United States, and why would you discriminate against them?”
SAN GUELO: “Currently, what happens is that because of the tax returns, the FASFA does not allow them to be emancipated from their parents. So they need to have their parents’ information and their parents’ legality proven.”
GINGRICH: “Okay. To be honest, I did not know that. That is something I would actively support, separating the student. If you were born in the United States, I would support a modification and we would be glad to work with your experts at the college to make sure that we know how to do it right. I would strongly support the idea that the students’ free standing status as American citizen would, in fact, allow them to get in-state tuition, period. Now again, the states have to make the decision. I mean the state level decision, but I would urge the states to treat any student actually born in the United States as an American and therefore to be eligible for in-state tuition.”
Source: Univision, January 25, 2012.
BETH REINHARD (National Journal): “Speaker Gingrich…would provide a pathway to citizenship for children who have been brought to the U.S. illegally if they attend college or enroll in the military.”
GINGRICH: “No. I would work to get a signable version which would be the military component. I think any young person living in the United States who happened to have been brought here by their parents when they were young should have the same opportunity to join the American military and earn citizenship which they would have had from back home.
We have a clear provision that if you live in a foreign country, and you are prepared to join the American military, you can, in fact, earn the right to citizenship by serving the United States and taking real risk on behalf of the United States. That part of the Dream Act I would support. I would not support the part that simply says everybody who goes to college is automatically waived for having broken the law.”
Source: Republican Debate, January 23, 2012.
“I am opposed to anybody who came here illegally getting citizenship. That’s entirely wrong…The only exception I would make is if young people, the ones you are dealing with, are willing to join the American military and serve the United States.”
Source: The Washington Times, January 20, 2012.
“Well, I mean, two things, first of all, in the DREAM Act, the one part that I like is the one which allows people who came here with their parents to join the U.S. military, which they could have done if they were back home, and if they serve on it with the U.S. military to acquire citizenship, which is something any foreigner can do. And I don’t see any reason to punish somebody who came here at three years of age, but who wants to serve the United States of America.”
Source: Republican Debate, November 22, 2011.
Social services
“There is a big gap in rational thinking between the government and private sectors. We have technology that allows you to track a package with FedEx with remarkable accuracy. One of my proposals is to send people a package to determine if they are here illegally…but it’s funny but making a point about where we are. We should be able to identify everyone who gets emergency aid and every state should sue the federal government every year for every cent spent on illegals who should not be in the United States.”
Source: CSPAN, November 5, 2011.
E-Verify
“Well, let me say, first of all, I think we would be better off to outsource E-Verify to American Express, MasterCard or Visa, because they actually know how to run a program like that without massive fraud. Second, the program should be as easy as swiping your credit card when you buy gasoline. And so I would ask of employers, what is it you would object to in helping the United States of America in dealing with the problem involving illegal immigration?”
Source: Republican Debate, September 22, 2011.
“It should be possible for any employer, anyone in the United States, as fast as you swipe your ATM card to get cash, to swipe a card to know whether or not they’re able to hire you.”
Source: Politico, December 2, 2010.
High-skilled immigration
“Let me start and just say I think that we ought to have an H-1 visa that goes with every graduate degree in math, science and engineering so that people stay here.”
Source: Republican Debate, November 22, 2011.
“Americans will benefit from a fairer, more secure, more efficient system, which will ensure that foreign visitors, students, workers and job-creators alike provide as many positive benefits as possible to our economy and society.”
Source: 21st Century Contract with America, September 29, 2011.
Guest worker visas
GINGRICH: “I want to go to guest worker system that is driven by the economy. If the economy is growing, which it is not under Obama, but if you got back to four percent economic unemployment, which is where it was when I left the speakership, you would have a pretty robust guest worker program.”
JORGE RAMOS (Univision): “But what I was saying is that you are proposing a legalization plan for those who have been here more than 20 years.”
GINGRICH: “Right.”
RAMOS: “Naturally you are leaving outside the majority of the 11 million undocumented immigrants.”
GINGRICH: “Right.”
RAMOS: “So what will you do with them?”
GINGRICH: “I would urge them to get a guest worker permit.”
RAMOS: “Which you know they are not going to get it.”
GINGRICH: “Why?”
RAMOS: “Because the law says otherwise.”
GINGRICH: “No, because we’re writing a new law, Jorge. You and I are sitting here talking about a new law. We can write a law which makes them eligible to apply for the guest worker permit.”
Source: Univision, January 25, 2012.
“We oughta have an effective guest worker program with very severe penalties for those employers who hire people illegally.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 10, 2011.
“But along with making it much harder to sneak in, we need to make it easier for guest workers to enter the country legally and to work here as long as they obey the law. We need a guest-worker program to ensure that guest workers pay taxes, get driver’s licenses, buy auto insurance, abide by the law, and that filters out criminals and potential terrorists. The program should not be an automatic qualification for citizenship, though eventual citizenship should be held out as an opportunity.”
Source: NPR, September 15, 2011.
“So you’re asking me—is it possible over a two- to three-year period that every person at some point go home and get the guest-worker permit—because you couldn’t do this in week. This would have to be a transition of two to three years. I think virtually everybody would if they knew we were serious…I’d ask them to go home, get the card, and come back. And again, how many people go home anyways on a regular basis?”
Source: Think Progress, July 13, 2009.
English language
“I think frankly we oughta make English the official language of government.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 10, 2011.
“The American people believe English should be the official language of the government…We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.”
“Citizenship requires passing a test on American history in English. If that’s true, then we do not have to create ballots in any language except English.”
Source: Associated Press, March 31, 2007.
Ron Paul
Immigration reform
“Somebody who’s been here and it’s their country I think there should be a program to bring them into the fold…but I want it to be done systematically. I think we need more efficiency at our borders, and allow the people to come in, especially for people who can take care of themselves.”
“I think legalizing is one thing; that they’re not criminals and let people get a work permit, or you know, work within the system. But if everybody who comes illegally is automatically given citizenship and a vote and can apply for welfare, that would not be a good format, because then we would have more of it. But you ask about what we do with 11 million and I would say you have to work out a program of assimilation, but you can’t just say borders don’t count and people should be rewarded for breaking the law.”
Source: Univision, October 2, 2011.
“I don’t think that we should give amnesty and they [undocumented immigrants] become voters. But I do think we should deal with our borders.”
Source: Republican Debate, August 11, 2011.
“Immigrants who can’t be sent back due to the magnitude of the problem should not be given citizenship – no amnesty should be granted. Maybe a “green card” with an asterisk could be issued. This in-between status…may well allow some immigrants who come here illegally a beneficial status without automatic citizenship or tax-supported benefits – a much better option than deportation.”
Source: Liberty Defined, 00-April-11.
“Finally, completely overhaul the legal immigration process. The current system is incoherent and unfair. Legal immigrants from all countries should face the same rules and waiting periods.”
Source: Lew Rockwell, September 12, 2006.
Border security
“I’m not ever for a fence.”
Source: Fox News, October 26, 2011.
“But I don’t think the answer is a fence whatsoever.”
Source: CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate, October 18, 2011.
“But I might add about the border control and the Latino vote, is we lack resources there. I think we should have more border guards on it, a more orderly transition, and run it much better. But where are our resources? You know, we worry more about the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. We need to bring the guard units home and the units back here so we can have more personnel on our border.”
Source: CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate, October 18, 2011.
“Every time you think about the fence, think about the fences being used against us [American people], keeping us in.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 7, 2011.
“But the people who want big fences and guns, sure, we can secure the borders – a barbed-wire fence with machine guns, that would do the trick. I don’t believe that’s what America is all about.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 7, 2011.
“We should think about protecting our borders, rather than the borders between Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Source: Republican Debate, June 13, 2011.
“The purist Libertarian viewpoint is totally open-borders. I don’t endorse that, I don’t think we are quite able to do that as long as people can come in here and take advantage of the welfare system. I don’t believe in the open borders. But I don’t like the idea of people wanting to build walls and fences and guns and thinking that the immigrant is the evil monster and the immigrant becomes the scapegoat of everything. I think that’s very, very bad.”
Source: ThinkProgress, April 29, 2011.
“There was an immigration bill that had a fence in it, but it was to attack amnesty. I don’t like amnesty. So I voted for that bill to stop the amnesty, but I didn’t like the fence. I don’t think the fence can solve our problem. I find it rather offensive.”
Source: ABC News, December 12, 2007.
Voted “yes” on H.R. 6061, the Secure Fence Act, in 2006, a bill that attempted to achieve “operational control” over U.S. borders with the use of additional border surveillance and infrastructure, including fencing.
Source: Library of Congress, September 13, 2006.
Mass deportation
“I do not support amnesty…I’m not for amnesty but it’s absolutely impossible to think that anybody—no matter how strongly people feel against illegals—you’re not going to round up 12 or 15 million people. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Source: ThinkProgress, April 29, 2011.
“The first choice—sending twelve to fifteen million illegals home—isn’t going to happen and shouldn’t happen…if each case is looked at separately, we would find ourselves splitting up families and deporting some who have lived here for decades, if not their entire life, and who have never lived for any length of time in Mexico. This would hardly be a Good Samaritan approach to the problem. It would be incompatible with human rights.”
Source: Liberty Defined, April 1, 2011.
“Immigration officials must track visa holders and deport individuals who overstay their visas or otherwise violate U.S. law. This is especially important when we recall that some of the 9/11 terrorists had expired visas.”
Source: Lew Rockwell, September 12, 2006.
State and local immigration laws
“[Immigration] That’s one area where the federal government was given jurisdiction not the states. The government has been given jurisdiction over national defense and control of our borders.”
“I don’t want to live in a country where we have to have our papers to go from one state to another or buy something or get a job even today everything is being registered in Washington. I don’t want that. I want individuals to be given the benefit of the doubt. Well, you say this is only for the illegals but its just a bunch of baloney, but how do you do it how do you sort out illegals from legals, just to look at somebody and say your legal but your not legal unless you put the papers and identification on everybody! And then you say well, we’ll just put the paper, and ID cards on Hispanics because most of the illegals are Hispanics, BUT that obviously would be wrong! You have to do it for everybody.”
Source: “Hispanics in Politics” event, Las Vegas, Nevada, February 1, 2012.
“I have some reservations about that law [S.B. 1070], but not about the intent, and what their trying to do and the dereliction of duty of the federal government”
Source: Infowars, May 26, 2010.
“Arizona-type immigration legislation can turn out to be harmful. Being able to stop any American citizen under the vague charge of ‘suspicion’ is dangerous even more so in the age of secret prisons and a stated position of assassinating American citizens if deemed a ‘threat,’ without charges ever being made.”
Source: Liberty Defined, April 1, 2011.
DREAM Act and in-state tuition
Voted “nay” on the 2010 DREAM Act bill.
Source: U.S. House of Representatives, December 8, 2010.
Social services
“No welfare for illegal aliens. Americans have welcomed immigrants who seek opportunity, work hard, and play by the rules. But taxpayers should not pay for illegal immigrants who use hospitals, clinics, schools, roads, and social services.”
Source: Ron Paul for Congress.
“Mandating to the states and to Texas that we have to provide free medical care and free education, that’s a great burden. It’s a great burden to California and all the border states. So I would say eliminate all these benefits and talk about eliminating the welfare state because it’s detrimental not only to here but the people that come because that’s the incentive to bring their families with them.”
Source: Republican Debate, November 22, 2011.
“What you need to do is attack their benefits: no free education, no free subsidies, no citizenship, no birth-right citizenship.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 22, 2011.
“But I do not believe in giving entitlements to illegal immigrants at all. And there should be no mandates on the states to make them do it.”
Source: Republican Debate, August 11, 2011.
Voted “yes” on H.R. 3722 in 2004, which would have required hospitals to gather and report information on possible undocumented immigrants before they could be reimbursed for treating them.
Source: Library of Congress, May 18, 2004.
E-Verify
On mandating the use of electronic work verification: “I don’t like putting the burden on our businessmen to be the policemen. That means he has to be policing activity.”
Source: Republican Debate, August 11, 2011.
Birthright citizenship
“End Birthright Citizenship – As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be granted U.S. citizenship, we’ll never be able to control our immigration problem.”
Source: Ron Paul 2012, .
High-skilled immigration
Voted “yes” on H.R. 3736, a bill that increased the number of highly skilled workers from 65,000 to 115,000 by the year 2000.
Source: U.S. House of Representatives, September 24, 1998.
English language
“I think it is good and proper to have one language, which would be English, for all legal matters at the national level. But this doesn’t preclude bilingualism in private use or in education or in local government.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 9, 2007.
Co-sponsored H.R. 997, the English Language Unity Act of 2007, a bill that claimed English as the official language of the United States.
Source: Library of Congress, June 5, 2007.
Mitt Romney
Immigration reform
ADAM SMITH (The Tampa Bay Times): “Governor Romney, there is one thing I’m confused about. You say you don’t want to go and round up people and deport them, but you also say that they would have to go back to their home countries and then apply for citizenship. So, if you don’t deport them, how do you send them home?
ROMNEY:”Well, the answer is self-deportation, which is people decide they can do better by going home because they can’t find work here because they don’t have legal documentation to allow them to work here. And so we’re not going to round people up.
…Look, people who have come here legally would, under my plan, be given a transition period and the opportunity during that transition period to work here, but when that transition period was over, they would no longer have the documentation to allow them to work in this country. At that point, they can decide whether to remain or whether to return home and to apply for legal residency in the United States, get in line with everybody else. And I know people think but that’s not fair to those that have come here illegally.”
SMITH: “Isn’t that what we have now? If somebody doesn’t feel they have the opportunity in America, they can go back any time they want to.”
ROMNEY: “Yes, we’d have a card that indicates who’s here illegally. And if people are not able to have a card, and have through an E-Verify system determine that they are here illegally, then they’re going to find they can’t get work here. And if people don’t get work here, they’re going to self-deport to a place where they can get work.
Ultimately, with this transition period in place, we would then allow people to get in line at home and to come back to this country after they have reached the front of the line. But I just don’t think it’s fair to the people who have loved ones waiting in line legally to come to America and say, guess what? We’re going to encourage a wave of illegal immigration by giving amnesty of some kind to those who have come here illegally.”
Source: Republican Debate, January 23, 2012.
“Now with regards to immigration policy, I absolutely believe that those who come here illegally should not be given favoritism or a special route to becoming permanent residents or citizens that’s not given to those people who have stayed in line legally. I just think we have to follow the law, I think that’s the right course.”
“And I have indicated I would veto the DREAM Act if provisions included in that act to say that people who are here illegally, if they go to school here long enough, get a degree here that they can become permanent residents. I think that’s a mistake. I think we have to follow the law and insist those who come here illegally, ultimately return home, apply, and get in line with everyone else.”
“Look, I want people to know I love legal immigration. Almost all of us in this room are descendants of immigrants or are immigrants ourselves. Our nation is stronger and more vibrant by virtue of a strong legal immigration system. But to protect our legal immigration system we have got to protect our borders and stop the flood of illegal immigration and I will not do anything that opens up another wave of illegal immigration.”
Source: Republican Debate, January 16, 2012.
“We need to provide everybody who comes here legally an identification card and then say to employers before you hire someone, if they’re not a US citizen with a valid Social Security number, you’ve got to look at that card, run in by your computer, make sure its not counterfeit and only then can you hire someone and employers who hire people who have not passed that kind of a check are going to get tough sanctions against them. You do that and people will not want to come here illegally because they can’t get work here.
Source: KWQC News, December 28, 2011.
“We are going to have an identification card for people who come here legally…We would have a card, a little plastic card, bio-information on it. Individuals who come here legally have that card. And when they apply for a job, they are able to show that to the employer. The employer must then check it with E-Verify or a similar system…So people come here legally, they’ve got that card. If employers hire people without that card, the employer gets sanctioned just like they do for not paying taxes. Very serious sanctions.
So you say to people who are here illegally today, you are not going to be able to work here unless you register, unless — and we will give you transition period of time, and then ultimately you have got to go home, apply for permanent residency here or citizenship, if you want to try and do that, but get in line behind everyone else.
My view is, people who have come here illegally, we welcome you to apply but you must get at the back of the line, because there are millions of people who are in line right now that want to come here legally. I want those to come here legally. Those that are here illegally have to get in line with everybody else.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 15, 2011.
“Those people that are here illegally today should have the opportunity to register and to have their status identified. And those individuals should get in line with everyone else that’s in the line legally. They should not be placed ahead of the line. They should instead go at the back of the line. And they should not be allowed to stay in this country and be given permanent residency or citizenship merely because they’ve come here illegally.”
Source: Fox News, November 29, 2011.
“But in order to bring people in legally we’ve got to stop illegal immigration. That means turning off the magnets of amnesty, in-state tuition for illegal aliens, employers that knowingly hire people that have come here illegally.”
“The answer is we’re going to have a system that gives people who come legally a card that identifies them as coming here legally. Employers are going to be expected to inspect that card, see if they’re here legally. On that basis we’re going to be able to bring you to this country.”
Source: Republican Debate, November 22, 2011.
“If you’re opposed to illegal immigration, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have a heart. It means that you have a heart and a brain.”
Source: Boston Globe, September 23, 2011.
“We can’t talk about amnesty, we cannot give amnesty to those who have come here illegally.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 7, 2011.
“Look, we are a nation of immigrants. We love legal immigration. But for legal immigration to work we have to secure the border and we also have to crack down on employers that hire people who are here illegally. I like legal immigration.”
Source: Republican Debate, August 11, 2011.
“The first priority, get the fence built. At the same time, have an employment verification system so that we know who’s here legally and who’s not here legally. I have personal experience with this. You don’t know who’s here illegally. You don’t have a way of telling, if someone comes and they speak with an accent do you say, well, are you here legally or illegally? And they tell you, well, how do you know. And so I want an employment verification system with a card, where it indicates that they’re here illegally, that they’re here legally, what their work status is so that you can hire them. If they’re not here legally you know you don’t hire them. And we need to have that kind of system or we’re not going to know who’s here illegally and not. So those are the first two things. And number three, for those that are here illegally today, tell them to get in line with everybody else who wants to come here. No special pathway, no special deal by virtue of having come here illegally.”
Source: BuzzFeed Politics, December 4, 2007.
“I don’t believe in rounding up 11 million people and forcing them at gunpoint from our country. With these 11 million people, let’s have them registered, know who they are. Those who’ve been arrested or convicted of crimes shouldn’t be here; those that are here paying taxes and not taking government benefits should begin a process towards application for citizenship, as they would from their home country.”
Source: The Lowell Sun, March 30, 2006.
“What the president has opposed and what Senator McCain and Cornyn proposed are quite different than that [amnesty]. They require people signing up for a…registration number, then working here for six years and paying taxes, not taking benefits,,,then at the end of that period registering to become a citizen or applying to become a citizen and paying a fee… those are reasonable proposals.”
“But my view is that those 12 million who have come here illegally should be given the opportunity to sign up to stay here; that they should not be given any advantage in becoming a permanent resident or a citizen by virtue of simply coming here illegally. And, likewise, if they brought a child to this country or they’ve had a child in this country, that’s wonderful that they’re growing their families, but that doesn’t mean that they all get to stay here indefinitely.”
Source: Boston Globe, November 30, 2005.
Border security
“What I support is focusing on securing the border and when we secure the border and have convinced the American people that we do not have a flow of illegal aliens coming into the country, then we can address what we’re going to do with the 11 or 15 million that are here.”
Source: Washington Examiner, December 7, 2011.
“As President, I will work with leaders like Sheriff Babeu to protect our Southern border, provide the required assistance from the federal government, and put an end to the magnets that cause illegal immigration.”
Source: Believe in America, October 13, 2011.
“Let’s build a fence first, and let’s have sufficient border patrol agents to protect it.”
Source: Union Leader, October 5, 2011.
“But the third thing, and I learned this when I was with border patrol agents in San Diego, and they said, look, they can always get a ladder to go over the fence. And people will always run to the country. The reason they come in such great numbers is because we’ve left the magnet on.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 7, 2011.
ROMNEY: “Well, first, we ought to have a fence. Secondly…”
DIAZ-BALART (anchor, Noticiero Telemundo): “The whole fence, 2,600 miles?”
ROMNEY: “Yes. We got to – we got to have a fence, or the technologically approved system to make sure that we know who’s coming into the country, number one.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 7, 2011.
“But you look at some of the legislation that’s passed over the past couple of years, and you’re talking about legislation of a couple thousand pages or more. I find that very difficult to deal with, both as a person who is supposed to read something like that and express an opinion on it or vote on it, but also as somebody who’s being regulated or being affected by the legislation. Let’s look at things piece by piece. That’s the approach that I prefer, which would suggest let’s go after securing the border and making sure that those who come here legally are able to work here and those that come here illegally are no longer able to.”
Source: Think Progress, April 26, 2011.
Mass deportation
“I am not in favor of going around the country trying to round people up and put them in buses and take them across the border. I, instead, believe that we are wise to enforce immigration laws by having those people who are here legally have identification to that extent, and have an eVerify system that actually works.”
Source: Univision, January 25, 2012.
“My own view is those 11 million people should register the fact that they’re here in the country. They should be given some transition period of time to allow them to settle their affairs and then return home and get…in line at the back of the line with everybody else that wants to come here.”
“I want to bring people into this country who have skill, experience, family here who want to draw them in…I do not want to do something which encourages another wave of illegal immigration. So, from my view…the key measure is this: No favoritism for permanent residency or citizenship for those that have come here illegally.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 10, 2011.
“I don’t think that there is a call for rounding people up and taking them out of the country. I don’t think that that’s the process that’s necessary to maintain our system.”
Source: Washington Examiner, December 7, 2011.
“My plan is this, which is for those that have come here illegally and are here illegally today, no amnesty. Now, how do people return home? Under the ideal setting, at least in my view, you say to those who have just come in recently, we’re going to send you back home immediately, we’re not going to let you stay here. You just go back home. For those that have been here, let’s say, five years, and have kids in school, you allow kids to complete the school year, you allow people to make their arrangements, and allow them to return back home. Those that have been here a long time, with kids that have responsibilities here and so forth, you let stay enough time to organize their affairs and go home.”
Source: Republican Debate, January 30, 2008.
“I don’t believe in rounding up 11 million people and forcing them at gunpoint from our country. With these 11 million people, let’s have them registered, know who they are. Those who’ve been arrested or convicted of crimes shouldn’t be here; those that are here paying taxes and not taking government benefits should begin a process towards application for citizenship, as they would from their home country.”
Source: The Lowell Sun, March 30, 2006.
State and local immigration laws
“I’m so proud to earn Kris [Kobach]’s support…Kris has been a true leader on securing our borders and stopping the flow of illegal immigration into this country. We need more conservative leaders like Kris willing to stand up for the rule of law. With Kris on the team, I look forward to working with him to take forceful steps to curtail illegal immigration and to support states like South Carolina and Arizona that are stepping forward to address this problem.”
Source: Mitt Romney, January 11, 2012.
“My view is that states have the responsibility to care for the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of their citizens, and if the federal government is failing to fulfill its responsibility to enforce immigration laws, then states should have to take action. In my state, when I was governor, I took action. There was an effort on the part of the legislature to provide in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, I vetoed that. There was a discussion on drivers licenses, and I said, ‘No way.’ I actually empowered our state police to work with ICE to carry out federal immigration laws.”
Source: Fox News, September 12, 2011.
“One of the things I did in my state was to say, look, I’m going to get my state police authorized to be able to enforce immigration laws and make sure those people who we arrest are put in jail, to find out they’re here illegally, we’re going to get them out of here.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 12, 2011.
“The reason they come in such great numbers is because we’ve left the magnet on. And I said, what do you mean, the magnet? …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.”
Source: The Republican Debate at the Reagan Library, September 7, 2011.
“As you know, I opposed sanctuary cities as the governor of my state. And the idea that a city would determine that it’s not going to follow the U.S. law is unacceptable and immigration law is federal law.
Immigration laws are the responsibility of the federal government. The fact that you’re seeing states come up with various programs to try and secure their border is simply an indication that the federal government has failed in doing its job. And I need some lawyers to tell me how to go about doing it, but I would end sanctuary cities, if it’s legally possible.”
Source: NBC News, August 24, 2011.
“Arizona’s new immigration enforcement law is the direct result of Washington’s failure to secure the border and to protect the lives and liberties of our citizens. It is my hope that the law will be implemented with care and caution not to single out individuals based upon their ethnicity.”
Source: Politico, April 28, 2011.
“Let me tell you what I did as governor. I said no to driver’s licenses for illegals. I said, number two, we’re going to make sure that those that come here don’t get a tuition break in our schools, which I disagree with other folks on that one. Number three, I applied to have our state police enforce the immigration laws in May, seven months before I was out of office.”
Source: Republican Debate, November 28, 2007.
DREAM Act and in-state tuition
“I would not sign the Dream Act as it currently exists, but I would sign the Dream Act if it were focused on military service.”
Source: CNN, January 23, 2012.
LUCY (Student eligible for relief under the DREAM Act): “Are you going to support the DREAM Act?”
ROMNEY: “I already said, across the country, I would veto the Dream Act.”
LUCY: “I’m undocumented. I want to know then, why are you not supporting my dream?”
ROMNEY: “Because if someone comes here illegally…”
LUCY: “But I didn’t come here illegally, and I have a 4.0 GPA.”
ROMNEY: “That’s wonderful.”
Source: DRM Capitol Group, January 17, 2012.
“You know, the Hispanic-American voters I speak with are overwhelmingly concerned with opportunity. They want good jobs in America and rising incomes. If they want a president who is going to talk to them about a handout or more benefits for free, they got that guy. If they, instead, want a president who understands the economy who has lived in the economy and understands what it takes to help people get jobs, again, then I’m that person.”
Source: CNN, January 4, 2012.
“The question is: If I were elected and Congress were to pass the DREAM Act, would I veto it. And the answer is yes.”
“I’m delighted with the idea that people who come to this country and wish to serve in the military can be given a path to become permanent residents of this country.”
Source: Think Progress, December 31, 2011.
“I fundamentally believe that it doesn’t make sense for American taxpayers to pay for the college education of illegal aliens, particularly at a time when American taxpayers are having a hard time financing education for their own children…From a policy standpoint, if we’re going to give benefits that are worth $100,000 to illegal aliens to come here and get a higher education degree, then people are going to try and get into the country illegally. That’s the kind of magnet that draws people into the country.”
Source: Jordan Sekulow Show, September 27, 2011.
CHRIS WALLACE (host, FOX News): “In Massachusetts, you vetoed legislation to provide interstate tuition rates to the children of illegals. Governor Perry of course signed the Texas Dream Act to do exactly that. But what about Governor Perry’s argument that it’s better to get these kids an education and to get them jobs than to consign them just to being a burden on the state?”
ROMNEY: “It’s an argument I just can’t follow. I’ve got be honest with you, I don’t see how it is that a state like Texas — to go to the University of Texas, if you’re an illegal alien, you get an in-state tuition discount. You know how much that is? That’s $22,000 a year. Four years of college, almost $100,000 discount if you are an illegal alien go to the University of Texas. If you are a United States citizen from any one of the other 49 states, you have to pay $100,000 more. That doesn’t make sense to me. And that kind of magnet – That kind of magnet draws people into this country to get that education, to get the $100,000 break. It makes no sense.”
Source: Fox News-Google Debate, September 22, 2011.
E-Verify
JORGE RAMOS (Univision): “How would you convince millions of undocumented immigrants to go back to their country of origin?”
ROMNEY: “Well, very simply, which is that you have identification for those people who come here legally, which allows them to work in the United States and to get jobs from employers here. Then you have in place a very effective eVerify system that allows employers to check that documentation immediately, see if it’s legitimate or whether it’s been falsified. And you severely sanction employers that hire people who have not legal documentation and legal authorization to work here. On that basis, over time, people will find it less attractive to be here if they can’t find work here. Some refer to that as self-deportation.”
Source: Univision, January 25, 2012.
“If I’m president, we’ll put in an E-Verify system, which you [Rick Perry] have opposed…to make sure that we can find out who’s here illegally and not, and crack down on people who come here illegally.”
Source: CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate, October 18, 2011.
“…We have to have a system like E-Verify that employers can use to identify who is here legally and illegally. We have to crackdown on employers that hire people that are here illegally.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 22, 2011.
“We need an employment verification system to identify the fact that legal aliens that come here are legal, are entitled to work. And that’s something I’m going to get done so our employers know who’s here legally and we welcome people who want to come work in this country.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 9, 2007.
Birthright citizenship
“The Constitution…indicates that those that are born here do become U.S. citizens by virtue of being born here. But if they’re born here from parents who come across the border illegally and bring them here illegally, in my view, we should not adopt, then, these chain migration policies that say, you’ve got a child here that’s a US citizen, and the whole family can come in. That, in my opinion, is a mistake.”
Source: Republican Debate, December 9, 2007.
High-skilled immigration
“But to make sure we’re able to bring in the best and brightest — and, by the way, I agree with the speaker in terms of — I’d staple a green card to the diploma of anybody who’s got a degree of math, science, a Masters degree, Ph.D. We want those brains in our country.”
Source: Republican Debate, November 22, 2011.
“I want people coming into the country with skills and experience, speaking English, with degrees and contributing to our culture and the capacity of our nation.”
Source: Associated Press, September 15, 2011.
“As President, [I] will also work to establish a policy that staples a green card to the diploma of every eligible student visa holder who graduates from one of our universities with an advanced degree in math, science, or engineering.”
“As President, a first step that [I] will take is to raise the ceiling on the number of visas issued to holders of advanced degrees in Math, Science, and engineering who have job offers in those fields from US companies.”
Source: Believe in America, September 6, 2011.
Rick Santorum
Immigration reform
ADAM SMITH (The Tampa Bay Times): “Senator Santorum, is self-deportation. Is that a valid concept?”
SANTORUM: ” Well, it’s happening now. I mean, people are going back now because they can’t find jobs because of the lack of employment opportunities.
The bottom line is, is that if you do enforce the law and say that people who are here illegally, who are doing illegal acts — and that is working, which you’re not allowed to do — and if you’re working, probably you’ve stolen someone’s Social Security number, which you are not allowed to do — and that’s another law that is broken — that we should enforce the law. It’s not someone who has come here illegally in the first place and they’ve only broken the law once. They continually break the law in this country, and I don’t think that’s not something that should be rewarded.
My father came to this country, my grandfather came to this country. He left my dad behind for five years. My dad was without a dad for almost the first five years of his life.
And there are millions of stories across America of people making sacrifices because America was worth it to do it the right way. You come to this country and the first thing you do is to respect our laws. If you want to be an American, you respect the laws of America, and you do so continually while you’re here.
We reward that kind of behavior. We don’t reward behavior where you don’t respect our laws in your initial act and then you continually break the laws in order to stay here.”
Source: Republican Debate, January 23, 2012.
“My grandfather made sacrifices. He lived in this country five years without his family…So when I hear people say, ‘well, people have lived here a long time, and they’ve played by the rules and we don’t want to separate families.’ Well, my grandfather separated from his family. Why? Because America was worth it.”
Source: Think Progress, January 9, 2012.
“I’m a Steve King guy on immigration…I don’t even have to say what that means.”
Source: Washington Post, January 1, 2012.
KATHIE OBRADOVICH (Des Moines Register): “The Catholic bishops have called for comprehensive immigration reform that includes an earned path to legalization. Are they wrong?”
SANTORUM: “Yeah, they are. I mean, we are a country of laws and we have to enforce our laws. If we develop the program like the Catholic bishops suggested we would be creating a huge magnet for people to come in and break the law some more, we’d be inviting people to cross this border, come into this country and with the expectation that they will be able to stay here permanently. I compare that to my grandfather who came to this country in 1925 to escape Mussolini’s Italy but he came by himself. My father was left behind. My uncle was left behind and eventually my aunt and what happened was he had to work here for five years, earn his citizenship and then bring the family over. What are we saying to all the families who are doing it the right way, who are separating from their families, who are making those sacrifices and then we say well, everybody who broke the law came here and we’re going to let you in and those folks, well sorry you’re chumps, you played by the rules. We have to have rules and we have to keep those rules in America or we would be a magnet for more people who want to break the law.”
Source: Iowa Public Television, December 8, 2011.
“I understand Congressman Gingrich saying, ‘Well, you know, people have been here and they’ve been good citizens and paying taxes.’ Yeah, under somebody else’s Social Security number because you stole it.”
“The idea people who are here 20 or 25 years and came here illegally only committed one illegal act, well, you can’t be here and commit one illegal act because almost everything you’re doing while you’re here is doing things against the law…So we say, we should let that happen. We shouldn’t break up families. We should let them all come…This is false compassion.”
Source: CNN, December 6, 2011.
“And if people want to stay in this country, then they have to go through the process of entering — and I’m talking about people who came here illegally in the first place. As we know, about half the people in this country, according to the statistics I’ve seen, about half the folks in this country who are here illegally did not enter the country illegally. They actually came here legally and are here on overstays. They were students who found work. And I think, you know, that is a different group of people than folks who came here illegally in the first place. I think if you came here illegally in the first place, then you have to go back through a process of entering the country in a legal fashion. And that’s what I would require.”
Source: Fox News, November 29, 2011.
“But to have that [comprehensive immigration reform] discussion right now and pull the same trick that was pulled in 1986 – we said, well, we’ll promise to do this if you do that – no more. We are going to secure the border first, and that’s the most important thing to do, then we’ll have the discussion afterwards.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 7, 2011.
Voted “no” on S. 2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006.
Source: Library of Congress, May 25, 2006.
“If one were to imagine the worst possible way to reform our immigration system, it would probably look a lot like the immigration bill the U.S. Senate is currently considering—a broad amnesty program for most illegal immigrants, increased financial burdens on honest tax-paying American citizens, and incentives for illegal immigrants to raid the Social Security system and lie about their work history.”
Source: National Review, May 25, 2006.
Border security
“If you live in a bad neighborhood and you leave the door to your home open, displaying all the goods, you create a moral hazard for all those people in need outside. America should not create a moral hazard…Good fences make good neighbors…We should build a fence where it makes sense.”
Source: Concord Monitor, October 11, 2011.
“I introduced a very comprehensive border security bill when I was in the United States Senate. It called for over a thousand miles of new border fencing, and it also called for, I said at least a thousand miles, we could build more, but at the time, a thousand was, you know, more than anybody else was talking about, and I talked about having surveillance, you know, all sorts of technology, all sorts of boots on the ground, I talked about deployment of the national guard…”
Source: The Laura Ingrahamm Show, September 29, 2011.
“But what we have is a problem of an unsecure border. Unlike Governor Perry, I believe we need to build more fence. I need – I believe that we need to secure the border using technology and more personnel. And until we build that border, we should neither have storm troopers come in and throw people out of the country nor should we provide amnesty.”
Source: Republican Debate, September 12, 2011.
Mass deportation
“No one wants to break up a family and send someone to jail. But we’re not sending these people to jail. We’re sending them home…We’re giving them an opportunity to eventually come back in this country, if they do so the right way. I don’t see that as harsh. I see that as the reality of how justice works in America.”
Source: Washington Times, January 8, 2012.
“We’re not sending them to Siberia. We’re not sending them to any kind of, you know, difficult country. They’re going to Mexico, which is a great country, a nice country.”
Source: Think Progress, December 1, 2011.
“My policy will be to detain and deport every illegal alien who is apprehended in this country. And we’ll do it with an expedited hearing process so that millions of illegal aliens are not released into the general population with some hearing date down the road.”
Source: Think Progress, November 30, 2011.
State and local immigration laws
“From my perspective, if the federal government isn’t going to do the job — and they certainly would if I was president — if I was a governor we’d have a responsibility to our citizens to protect them, and one area is to make sure that people who are in this country illegally should no longer stay in this country.”
Source: Newsmax, September 24, 2011.
DREAM Act and in-state tuition
“We’re talking about people who came here illegally or overstayed their visa and are now here illegally. That somehow we now owe them rich benefits – I find Rick Perry’s description that if you don’t believe that you’re heartless, I find that stunning in its detachment from reality.”
Source: Fox News, October 5, 2011.
“So I think that [Texas DREAM Act] really is what’s telling, that he [Rick Perry] still believes that federal taxpayers, state taxpayers and I suspect federal taxpayers should support people in this country illegally with taxpayer subsidies. If you look at my record in the United States Senate, I have consistently voted against that.”
Source: Mediaite, September 29, 2011.
“He’s [Perry] promoted programs which are unfortunately a magnet for some people to come to this country — giving tuition breaks to people illegally in Texas to go to their state schools. If you’re illegal and living in Texas, you’re going to get a $100,000 discount. To me that is someone who doesn’t understand that we should not be creating any kind of incentive for people to act illegally in coming into this country.”
Source: Newsmax, September 24, 2011.
Social services
“We should not be offering to people—particularly those who broke the law to come here or overstayed their visa—we should not be offering government benefits.”
Source: Republican Debate, June 13, 2011.
High skilled immigration
“First off, I’m actually for a system that allows for people to come here, if they come here on a student visa or they come here on a visa that — you know, where they’re getting some sort of higher education or they’re learning some great skills that are good and necessary for the country — my feeling is, you know, if they graduate and do well, we should — you know, we should have — actually give folks the opportunity to have a green card and to stay here and work.”
Source: Fox News, November 29, 2011.
