MIKE HUCKABEE: Well, I think the failure of the government has been they haven't sealed the border. It's harder for me to get on an airplane in my hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, than it is for an illegal to cross the border. That's what makes Americans mad.
They're not mad at immigrants. They understand immigrants want to come here for the same reason their ancestors did. But here's where the failure is: You can't allow people to break the law and then have no consequence.
My reasons for supporting the idea that, if a student had been in our schools, had performed academically and behaved, and had done everything that we asked of one of the students in our school to qualify for a scholarship, then it's in our best interest to let the student apply for the scholarship because they would -- part of the provision was they'd have to apply for citizenship.
But here's the other part. You don't punish the child for the parents having broken the law. We don't do that. We don't say, "OK, your parents broke a law, so we're going to punish you for it." I just don't understand why anybody would think that that's a good thing to do.
MARGARET WARNER: That's not a popular position among a lot of Republicans.
MIKE HUCKABEE: No, it isn't. It's not very popular at all, and I took a lot of heat for it, and still do. I still get criticized.
But I'm a person who believes in strong border security. I don't believe in amnesty. But neither do I believe in, again, doing something that is ultimately harmful to a person who didn't break the law. You know, a kid who comes here who's 3 years old, I don't think he had a whole lot of choice about saying, "Hey, Dad, let's break the law. Let's cross the border." He didn't even know where he was going. So let's not punish him.
Source: Huckabee Gives His Take on Conservatism, Faith and Iraq
PBS Newshour | October 5, 2007 | Huckabee interview with Margaret Warner
Ahh, dano1, this is he same man who said:
“There are people who are opposing this bill (Amnesty) for racist reasons”
Jules I can laugh at because he is merely clueless, Mitt is a bit slick, not the sort I am likely to meet, Fred is alright not glib...Huckabee however, went out of his way to question my principles, and that is a non starter..end of story, he can peddle illegals for Tyson Foods as much as he would like, maybe they will vote for him...
You don’t punish the child for the parents having broken the law.
Makes sense to me.