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NAPLES, FL -- Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich defended his immigration policy after days of criticism from other GOP contenders – reiterating that he does not support amnesty -- on Friday night before his largest crowd yet on the campaign trail.
Erik Kellar/AP
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich addresses a town hall meeting Friday at the Naples Hilton in Naples, Fla.
"I am not for amnesty for anyone. I am not for a path to citizenship for anybody who got here illegally," Gingrich told the crowd of roughly 750 people, many of whom were forced to stand in the hallway. "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."
The former House speaker, who is seen as one of the front-runners for the GOP nomination, has been taking some heat on his stance on immigration since Tuesday’s debate. After the debate some of his Republican rivals – Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney – have accused Gingrich of supporting amnesty, which the speaker said Friday night was misinformed.
"It speaks badly of any candidate who would deliberately repeat something which they know is not true," Gingrich told the packed crowd inside a Naples Hilton ballroom. Later, he added, "Ironically, in the Reagan Library debate I think most of them actually agreed with me," on my immigration policy.
Gingrich wants to model his immigration plan for illegals already in the country on the WWII model of the Selective Service System program, which allowed local communities to decide who would be drafted for war. He noted that the program "really tried to take general policy and give it a human face."
"I think the vast majority [of illegal immigrants] will go home and should go home and then should reapply. I do not think anybody should be eligible for citizenship," the former speaker said to loud applause in Southwest Florida with his wife, Callista, sitting in the front row of the audience. "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."
Gingrich has been rapidly rising in the polls recently despite questions raised about his ties with Freddie Mac and now on his policy on illegal immigrants. Back in the summer months, many Republicans and pundits wrote off the former speaker after more than a dozen of his staff quit unexpectedly.
"Remember, I was supposed to be dead in June or July," Gingrich said. "One side of that is that for a long period of time, they didn’t pay any attention to me."
Gingrich and his wife are scheduled to sign books Saturday morning in Naples.
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Most ex-speakers of the house who have embarrassed themselves and their country should crawl back into their hole and keep their mouth shut and leaving the running of the country to people who have a brain. Unfortunetley that would also include nearly all of his fellow candidates for nomination in the Republican party.
I wonder if Newt Gingrich has ever done a day of Manual Labor in his life. I think he needs to go to Alabama in the middle of the Summer and pick watermelons for about Ten years before he starts running his mouth!
He would not last ten minutes let alone ten years, niether would many Americans for that matter. That is why we have illegals that work like ants.
It's the same way when they declare war..
All of todays Republicans need to do ten years of Manual Labor before they can speak on this subject and I am not talking on the Golf Course sipping Merlot and sending the Trophy wife on a Shopping spree to Tiffany s....
Old porky pig Gingrich needs to reapply to become a part of the human race again. This low life philanderer and money bandit should be under a jail much less in one.
Hey Newt, someone needs to tell the candidates running for president like Romney and his lying ad taking statements out of context. Or Perry pretending that the President said Americans are lazy. Or any one of them pretending that the stimulus didn't work. Or how about the republican collective lie that the countries problems and debt all started when Obama was elected President.
Republican repeat lies all the time, especially the ones posting on this board. I had to laugh when I saw Newt's statement above as if he wasn't one of the ones repeating lies.
Right On...
"Reapply", they never applied in the first place, they're ILLEGALS.
Newt never Lobbied for Millions for Freddie Mac!
How else do you expect him to keep his Trophy Wife in Jewels from Tiffany s?
Do you think she Married him for his Sexual Prowess and Man Muscles?
I think they call that back-peddling. It doesn't sound anything like what I read he said last week.
Interesting he would mention selective service, I dont have a link but Im pretty sure he had a graduate school deferment to stay out of the Nam. So did a lot of other chickenhawks too.
Also, Mitt Romney and his Five sons never put on a Uniform. They are Cowards through and through along with all the other Chicken Hawks!
They would rather stay home and Rule Wall Street and when the Troops come Marching Home they have all the good jobs and the ones who risked their lives are coming home to McJobs if they can get those!
Yeah, Id like to load every chicken hawk into a convoy of unarmored HMMWVs and send them down an IED infested road in Sadir City. They are real patriots when others are getting their legs blown off.
They would be in a suits also just to ad to the absurdity..
Why is it that people say that invading aliens should not be deported because it would tear apart their families ---- but they have NO SUCH SYMPATHIES for other common criminals who are sent to prison?
Somebody drives off with a tank of gas without paying and gets 5 years in prison --- it destroys that person's family when he goes away.
No problem there though. After all he stole something worth $50.
But invade the country, committ identity theft to get a job, use false Social Security number etc. etc. put your kids in public school thereby stealing thousands of dollars in education ... why of course we can't punish him -- it would hurt his family.
Whenever they start that " think of the children " crud ( family site can't use the real word ) you KNOW there is some hanky panky going on.
Hey Newty, go buy your wife another million dollar ring or something would ya?
Newt, the word "reapply" would indicate these illegals actually applied at one point or another, which they did not do. They simply came here ILLEGALLY and squatted. Allowing them to apply for citizenship is good, but remember, they are already CRIMINAL TRESPASSERS in the eye of the American people. That should be remembered and put on their records when processing their applications.
What in the hell does he mean reapply for permission to be here. Reapply means that you've done it before and it wasn't accepted. The people he's talking about never applied for anything except SS food stamps and welfare. He needs to get his head out of his butt and stop trying to buy votes. I'm an independent and he has lost any chance of my vote for this stupid act.
It seems that everyone here is living in a dream world when it comes to illegal immigration. Does anyone honestly expect to deport 11 million + people?
I'll let you in on a dirty little secret, none of the Republican candidates really want to deport anyone. Gingrich and Perry are being slammed for simply speaking the truth to the issue. The others are simply telling you what you want to hear. That's the dream world.
It time for America to wake up and start dealing with reality on this and a host of many other issues like the wars, the mounting debt and the economy.
Straw man argument. No one is saying the US is going to round up people and deport them. Not that it couldn't be done, but because there is a better way. It is called attrition. You enforce all the laws and make it difficult for illegal aliens to stay. They will self deport. As we have seen with state laws anytime there is even the threat of enforcement, illegal aliens move.
The old argument of deportation versus amnesty is only for the narrow minded.
Illegal aliens got here on their own dime, they can remove themselves as well. Just enforce the laws that are on the books and secure the border.
Ah, yes. But how much are you willing to pay to enforce the law as you see it?
If you haven't noticed, we seem to be preoccupied with 2 wars and trillions in mounting debt. Its pretty hard to take the Republicans seriously when they constantly paint the government as the problem and seem intent on dismantling and decrediting it as an institution. Its pretty hard to effectively enforce the law without adequate funding.
And "making it difficult for illegal aliens to stay" is precisely what many big business types like Romney DO NOT WANT.
That's what the argument in the Republican party has been reduced to. When Gingrich throws an idea for a possible solution that does not involve deportation, its labeled as amnesty. GW Bush pushes for a guest worker program, its labeled as amnesty. What does that say about the base of the Republican party?
Immigrants mostly illegal built this country I think Gingrich should reapply. He should also take a look at the crops dying in the fields in Alabama because of the immigrant law the eejits down there passed Americans will not work the fields or as hard as the immigrants.
While I have only posted an opinion or two on the Internet in my entire life, it is difficult to not have a say here in this thread.
What to do concerning the children of illegal immigrants...let the parents stay because of the children? That is probably not the answer.
Do we let bank robbers keep the loot from the robbery? No, we don't because that would be wrong to take something that IS NOT YOURS.
We could go on forever...and we do...over this sort of "what to do" problem.
This country's resources are being stolen at a very high rate and deported to many other different countries while we just stand around and watch it happen. Why is that?
Someone please help me understand how we accept that sort of treatment...from anyone?
How about we simply enforce our existing laws...properly and pretty much to the letter. Most would agree that approach to the process of problem solving could be effective for most of the issues we face here in the US.
Simple compliance from citizens with the identification of lawbreakers should be an integral part of the statutes and we could clear up most of our problems virtually overnight.
We have allowed ourselves to be victimized by illegal activities and we will continue to be party to the results of those activities until WE act to stop them.
So, enough of the chit-chat and go report an illegal ANYTHING to your local, state and federal authorities. Or, better yet, report the activities to all three levels.
YES, be a tattle-tale and make someone stop doing something illegal, immoral or unethical TODAY.
If just 25% of the US had the guts to stand up for what's right...most ALL of our real issues would fade away fairly quickly.
25%...I like that. Or we can have 999 or FLIP FLOP ~ FLIP FLOP or CHANGE or whatever the current flavor is.
Stop the stupid stuff and life will get very good very quicklyfor everyone here in the United States.
IT REALLY IS UP TO US AND ONLY US!
Republican Ronald Reagan was the first and Last President to give Amnesty back in 1986.
Hey Republicans>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The military offered IA's a chance to serve because your puss crowd didnot follow the call of Bush starting two wars soooooooooooooooooooo I laugh at you.
@Forest Grump 2.0
The problem with the President's deportation figures are he is counting people who are passing thru and re-entering the revolving door we call a border. There is no way of knowing the exact figure on the numbers that were deported more then once.
If the presidents figures are correct, then I guess he has dis-proven the argument that " we can't deport them all" If an administration that obviously doesn't want to enforce immigration law can deport over a million in a half, imagine what an administration could do if they really worked at it!
While I have only posted an opinion or two on the Internet in my entire life, it is difficult to not have a say here in this thread.
What to do concerning the children of illegal immigrants...let the parents stay because of the children? That is probably not the answer.
Do we let bank robbers keep the loot from the robbery? No, we don't because that would be wrong to take something that IS NOT YOURS.
We could go on forever...and we do...over this sort of "what to do" problem.
This country's resources are being stolen at a very high rate and deported to many other different countries while we just stand around and watch it happen. Why is that?
Someone please help me understand how we accept that sort of treatment...from anyone?
How about we simply enforce our existing laws...properly and pretty much to the letter. Most would agree that approach to the process of problem solving could be effective for most of the issues we face here in the US.
Simple compliance from citizens with the identification of lawbreakers should be an integral part of the statutes and we could clear up most of our problems virtually overnight.
We have allowed ourselves to be victimized by illegal activities and we will continue to be party to the results of those activities until WE act to stop them.
So, enough of the chit-chat and go report an illegal ANYTHING to your local, state and federal authorities. Or, better yet, report the activities to all three levels.
YES, be a tattle-tale and make someone stop doing something illegal, immoral or unethical TODAY.
If just 25% of the US had the guts to stand up for what's right...most ALL of our real issues would fade away fairly quickly.
25%...I like that. Or we can have 999 or FLIP FLOP ~ FLIP FLOP or CHANGE...Blah Blah Blah...
Stopping all of the stupid stuff we allow will make life here in the United States very good for everyone and that will happen very quickly as well.
Try it and see for yourself...it really works on any scale.
It really it up to us and only us.
Newt is a joke! He realized that he screwed up the other day, and now is just trying to figure out a way to cover his bum, and get elected to office. Another used car salesman. Says one thing to get into office and then another when it comes time to sign the paperwork.
Maybe the service to the congress and senate should be like a pool for jury duty. Every US citizen gets a summons for a one term, whether it be for the senate or house. This way you don't get all these arrogant, bought and sold politicians by special interest groups. After all this country is founded by "We the People." It's just a thought. After all, it is our country and we couldn't screw it up any worse than they have. Who knows may, it may even get better!!!!!!!!
For comment 98 and 99 above: From a logistical/cost perspective it would not be difficult to deport 11,000,000 people over time. We moved 300,000 troops with all their equipment to Saudi Arabia for the gulf war in less than 90 days. it is a matter of American will.
As far as immigrants building the country: true statement, however times have changed. Maybe we don't need any more immigrants. Perhaps we have enough people to sustain our growth and bringing in immigrants is a policy that has outlived its usefulness. Lets give Americans a chance to continue to build our own country.
I am surprised Newt can make it up the steps to the Podium. What is he pushing, 350lbs? Put him and Chris Christie on stage at the same time and we will have another Tsunami!
How did he get a Trophy wife and send her on shopping sprees to Tiffany s, it wasn't through Manual Labor!
He would never last as President, he will have an infarction climbing onto Air Force One!
Oh, I know, Million Dollar contracts with Freddie Mac!
Nicely put Ted.
Gingrich is a mobile gravitational anomaly. Light probably bends around this adipose flab glacier!!
The gravitational anomaly also know as "Lard A$$ Syndrome"...
He hasn't worked a day of Manual Labor in the past forty years, if at all!
And this Clown wants to dismantle Social Security and Medicare Insurance and give that tranche of money to his Buddies the Wall Street BANKSTERS?
Newt will not win the GOP nomination, He is part of the old Guard, Conservatives and Liberals a like do not want him..
Wow.......Four men who wear their Vaginas well!
Gingrich IS four men Jolly.
As Thom Hartman likes to say: "We don't have an illegal alien problem so much as we have an illegal EMPLOYER problem."
These people are coming here for the jobs. The employers knows they're hiring an undocumented worker. They hire them anyway, and sign them up for Soc. Sec. deductions and FICA. These people will never collect on Soc. Sec., and many live as indentured slaves. Prosecute the employers and your problem will be stopped at the source.
Illegal immigration does not affect me, nor does it concern me. Use your brains.
Candidly people,...........be honest here. How many of you have ever applied for a job to pick lettuce? Well then,....how many of you have applied for a job to scrub toilets in a Marriott hotel? So then,.....how many of you republicans ever applied for a job to sand and finish drywall in a housing/apartment development? Any of you people an agricultural worker, or do menial labor at a construction site? No?
Employers raked in the savings from employing illegals, but when was the last time the price of produce dropped? Why don't the wage savings manage to make their way to us? What happened to your "free" market? Hmmmmmmmm? Speak up. Can't hear ya'. Put another way: the UAW gave in to massive concessions in 2007 to keep the Big 3 afloat. Did anyone see the price of cars drop precipitously? Why ya' suppose that is? Use that giant, massive republikan brain and think about it.
Like I said ILLEGAL immigration does not concern nor affect me.
What DOES affect me is the LEGAL immigration: the H1B Visa program.
Offshoring is taking the job to a foreign country. H1B Visas let you bring the foreign country to the job. Hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of foreigners a year are brought here to displace American workers in Physical therapy, engineering of all types, electronics, auto design, silicon chip designers,.....you name the high tech field,...and I guarantee you they're there. Americans can't get jobs, and wages and benefits are suppressed, and these people are exploited by your noble "job creators".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa
A friend of mine was looking for a job as an engineer for 3 years while I watched swarms of Indian and Chinese engineers hired over her at Chrysler. Her only crime was that she was an American. If she applied from Bangalore and called herself SwamiKrishna she'd of been hired immediately.
I suggest you people start concerning yourself with the types of immigration that really DO harm America rather that this artificially-produced milquetoast diversion.
Candidly people,...........be honest here. How many of you have ever applied for a job to pick lettuce? Well then,....how many of you have applied for a job to scrub toilets in a Marriott hotel? So then,.....how many of you republicans ever applied for a job to sand and finish drywall in a housing/apartment development? Any of you people an agricultural worker, or do menial labor at a construction site? No?
Why would anybody do these jobs when you can stay home and collect welfare, SSI, section 8, SNAP, WIC, ADFC etc etc. Take these handouts away and the incentive to do the menial jobs would be different.
Traditionally we took in only about 250k thousand legal immigrants a year now we are at a Million a year, We also have about that same number of illegals over staying their visa's and crossing the Borders every year, It is all about numbers, We are slowly being replaced inside and out of this Country, E-Verify needs to be implemented across the entire Country yesterday.
Or why would you work when you can start a company, get tax breaks galore, offshore your work, collect a giant bonus for doing offshoring, pay 15% tax on the bonus, then hide the rest of the money in the Cayman Islands, and take a business loss on your taxes to boot?
Then you could call yourself a "job creator", and complain about how oppressed you are.
Because as we all know there is that certain class of people that no how much government wealth you give them, no matter how much government welfare they receive, no matter how much they get from the government with their entitlement attitude, these people will never, ever get off their fannies and get a real job, working real labor, at a real company off the public dole.
We call these people republicans.
The Newt will say anthing that will help him sell one of his books, t-shirts, or hats or help him get his foot out of his mouth. It's nice not to have heard much from these right wing clowns lately. Wonder when their 3000th debate is being held?
The Citizens have said over and over No amnesty, We told Bush in 2007 No, We told Obama in 2010 No, What does this Corporate Republican sock cucker not understand?
us I did not know Barney Frank had changed party affiliation? Wow politics is a strange buisiness? Whats his angle? You did say corporate coc suker did you not?