Huckabee: I’ll never back down from saying we need a path to citizenship for DREAMers

Hotair ^ | 01/29/2015 | AllahPundit

[SeekAndFind]

“If that bothers you to the point that you’d say, ‘I’d never vote for you,’” he told an audience in Virginia, “then you’re never going to vote for me.” Oh, now. There are plenty of reasons never to vote for Huck without dragging the poor DREAM kids into this.

Lefty Greg Sargent says this is a big deal. Is it? I think it’s a “big deal” in the sense that righties who don’t like Huckabee now have another reason not to like him, but realistically, how many candidates in the nascent GOP field will be coming out hard against DREAM this year? C’mon.

“I don’t believe that it is a just thing to punish someone who had nothing to do with the breaking of the law,” Huckabee told a crowd hosted by the Family Foundation, a Christian advocacy group that lobbies the Virginia legislature. “What I want to do is see, what can we do to put that person in a position where they do abide by the law and become a citizen? I would like that person to become a very generous tax-paying citizen rather than somebody who is going to take taxes away from the rest of us.”…

As an example, Huckabee related the true story of one son of illegal immigrants who started in Arkansas schools as a child and went on to graduate from the state’s largest high school as the valedictorian.

“Does he get the scholarship and go on to college so that he can become perhaps a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, a teacher?” Huckabee said. “Or do we say, ‘No son, you’re as far as you can go. You need to pick tomatoes.’ ”

“I don’t know how in the world that we’re going to punish that kid for something he had no control over,” Huckabee added.

Reality check: Scott Walker, the buzziest GOP contender in America right now, supports a path to citizenship not just for DREAMers but for adult illegals too. Marco Rubio, the next buzziest guy, led the charge for a Senate bill which would have added a path to citizenship for adult illegals to federal law. Jeb Bush, the establishment frontrunner, preposterously pretends to oppose citizenship for adult illegals but does support citizenship for DREAMers. Even Mitt Romney, who famously proposed self-deportation as a remedy to illegal immigration in 2012, said at the time that he’d support DREAM for kids who enlisted in the military. (He also said that, rather than simply rescind Obama’s 2012 DACA amnesty for DREAMers, he’d replace it with his own solution.) I’m guessing that the new and improved “softer” Romney will extend his support to making all DREAMers eligible for citizenship soon enough. Rather than ask whether Huckabee can survive supporting citizenship for DREAMers, then, ask this question instead: How many of the 20-30 Republican alternatives running for president actually disagree with him? Maybe Ted Cruz will, but I wouldn’t even bet on that. Everyone running, even the stalwart tea partiers, will want to make some concession on immigration to hopefully blunt the Democrats’ edge with Latino voters in 2016. Cruz can come out strong against amnesty for adults; he might even come out against citizenship for DREAMers. (He’ll certainly come out against chain migration for DREAM families, as will most everyone else.) But is he willing to oppose any form of legalization for DREAMers, knowing full well that once legalization is granted, citizenship will eventually follow? As of last year, more than 60 percent of white evangelicals, a group for whom Huckabee and Cruz will be competing, supported allowing adult illegals to stay in the U.S. What happens to those numbers when you ask specifically about the more sympathetic class of DREAMers, kids who came here through no fault of their own? Again, c’mon.

Explain to me, then, how Huckabee ends up taking a beating for his position when it’ll be, at worst, the overwhelming consensus view of the field and, at best, a comparatively restrained approach when people like Walker and Rubio are up there making the case for citizenship for everyone. One of two things will happen with the citizenship issue in the primaries. Either it’ll blow up as a litmus test for the base, in which case it’ll consume Walker and Rubio before it reaches Huckabee, or the fact that strong candidates like Walker and Rubio are endorsing the idea will move the Overton window for the party as a whole and make citizenship for a smaller class of illegals, like DREAMers, a viable compromise position for 2016. My hunch is that the second reaction is more likely than the first. Whenever I half-jokingly suggest prospective GOP tickets on Twitter (Romney/Bush? Bolton/Carson?), one of the strongest responses I get is for a Walker/Rubio or Rubio/Walker ticket. A lot of people want at least one of those guys on the ballot, but both support citizenship for illegals; the cognitive dissonance involved in being an anti-amnesty conservative but liking one or both of them will be resolved, I’d bet, in favor of “well, I guess citizenship for DREAMers is okay so long as it’s just for DREAMers.” It won’t be just for DREAMers in the end, but that little lie we’ll tell ourselves will be good enough to keep Walker and Rubio viable.

[exit82]

“Does he get the scholarship and go on to college so that he can become perhaps a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, a teacher?” Huckabee said. “Or do we say, ‘No son, you’re as far as you can go. You need to pick tomatoes.’ ”

False choice, Hucklechuckle.

In any other country, the parents have to go back, and the minor age kids go also.

Including Mexico and Guatemala.

[School of Rational Thought]

Won’t ever consider working for that bumpkin.

Throw the progressives out of GOP

[EternalVigilance]

Too bad to see him disqualify himself, since he’s the only one who seems to have finally figured out that judicial supremacy is a destructive lie.

[School of Rational Thought]

Stay out the Bushes!

CRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ, Walker

[Fightin Whitey]

Just heard a professional woman over at FOX say “F him!”

I thought she said "How could anyone EVER fff him???"

lol

[mykroar]

If he’s seriously this out of touch, he might as well not bother. Even if he’s playing spoiler, how many votes could he possibly siphon?

[mykroar]

If he’s seriously this out of touch, he might as well not bother. Even if he’s playing spoiler, how many votes could he possibly siphon?

[exit82]

+1

[Muffin1954]

Your headline suggests that there is NO pathway to citizenship: If that is true how did these people become citizens of the USA?

Madeline Albright 1937- Czech Republic – 11 yo at Immigration
Mario Andretti 1940- Italy – 8 yo at Immigration
Xavier Cugat 1900-1990 Spain – 15 yo at Immigration
Patrick Ewing 1962- Jamaica – 12 yo at Immigration
Andy Garcia 1956- Cuba – 5yo at Immigration
Henry Kissinger 1923- Germany – 15 yo at Immigration
Joseph Pulitzer 1847-1911 Hungary – 18yo at Immigration served with Sheridans Troopers
Arnold Schwarzenegger 1947- Austria – 21 yo at Immigration
Maria Sharapova 1987- Russia – 8 yo
Levi Strauss 1829-1902 Bavaria – 18 yo
Andrew Grove 1936- Hungary, Founder, Intel Corp
Iman (Abdulmajid) 1955- Somolia
Hans Bethe 1906-2005 Germany – 26 yo
Dinesh D’Souza 1961 – India – 30yo
Elia Kazan 1909-2003 Turkey
Angela Lansbury 1925- Great Brittan

Yo-Yo Ma 1955- France
Irving Berlin 1888-1989 Russia – 5 yo
Gloria Estefan 1957- Cuba – 4 yo
Frank Capra 1888-1989 Italy – 5 yo
Felix Frankfurter 1882-1965 Austria
Greta Garbo 1905-1990 Sweden
Samuel Goldwyn 1882-1974 Poland Goldwyn-Mayer studios in Hollywood

[Farmer Dean]

Pretty cocky for a third tier candidate.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

Just another idiot politician who sells out REAL Americans.

I’d rather vote for Pedro than him to be honest.

[SoConPubbie]

As the husband of a lady who is going through immigration the correct way, the only thing the government should be doing (if anything) is to allow DREAMer kids to get in line like everyone else with no penalty, unlike illegal alien adults, who should face a penalty for not following the law.

No, all of them should be deported. It's the law!

[Responsibility2nd]

Well Seek.

You sure started a knee-jerking party here. Everyone on board the “I Hate Huck” train? Good.

Now re-read this....

How many of the 20-30 Republican alternatives running for president actually disagree with him? Maybe Ted Cruz will, but I wouldn’t even bet on that. Everyone running, even the stalwart tea partiers, will want to make some concession on immigration to hopefully blunt the Democrats’ edge with Latino voters in 2016. Cruz can come out strong against amnesty for adults; he might even come out against citizenship for DREAMers. (He’ll certainly come out against chain migration for DREAM families, as will most everyone else.) But is he willing to oppose any form of legalization for DREAMers, knowing full well that once legalization is granted, citizenship will eventually follow?

_______________________________________________

What everyone fails to understand is that there WILL NOT BE any GOP candidates totally opposed to DREAM.

Not even (gasp!) Ted Cruz.

So. Lets just keep knee jerking here and stay home.

[dennisw]

I despise Huckster...effin imbecile

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Legality of Huckabee's Mexican consulate deal questioned Critics say Arkansas citizens, businesses financed office to draw illegal workers

"Financial inducements arranged by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to establish a Mexican consular office in Little Rock may have violated state law, according to an Arkansas attorney."

Is this true? How Huckabee destroyed hard drives in data purge just before his 2008 presidential bid "Mother Jones magazine, it has been revealed that the computer hard drives containing records from Huckabee’s tenure as Arkansas governor were erased and physically destroyed by his administration." Mother Jones magazine??

[Responsibility2nd]

Good, then the conservative candidate will stand out from the crowd of surrender monkeys and the choice will be clear.

________________________________________________

And WHICH conservative will that be? The author points out that they ALL support some form of amnesty. Except Cruz - and he probably will throw his weight behind it too.

Then what are ya gonna do?

[Boogieman]

“Except Cruz - and he probably will throw his weight behind it too.”

Doubtful, he seems too smart to do that. He knows that being the conservative choice is his best path to victory, and if he goes for amnesty, he will be dismissed as just another RINO.

[Little Pig]

Yes, they should all be deported. My point was that I could accept allowing DREAM kids to “get in line” for legal immigration without penalty once they can independently do so, whereas I would impose a penalty of some kind (waiting period or outright ban) for adult illegals wanting to immigrate legally.

In other words, we wouldn’t hold their previous illegal alien status against underage illegals when they come to apply for legal immigration as adults, should they want to immigrate just like anyone else. Some 6yo whose parents dragged him in illegally shouldn’t be penalized later on if he wants to come in legally on his own, whereas an adult (and maybe older teens) who come in illegally on their own initiative and get thrown out would face restrictions if they ever wanted to come in through legal channels.

[Responsibility2nd]

Cruz is THE perfect spokesman for Amnesty.

His parents immigrated from Cuba, he’s Latino, he’ll bring MILLIONS of Latino votes into the mix. All he has to do is follow the crowd here.

FWIW, I’m on record now of stating Cruz will support some amnesty plan.

It won’t be a broad “let ‘em all in” plan, it’ll be more restrictive than any democrat plan; but it’ll pro-amnesty (as we FReepers define it) anyway.

[Iron Munro]

My guess is Huckabee will not be a factor in the upcoming primaries.

He should challenge Hitlary! in the One-World/Socialist/Communist primaries.