Days before the first debate of the 2016 Presidential race, most of the GOP Presidential Hopefuls gathered last night at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire to answer questions, including a few on immigration. None of the candidates offered any new positions, but several cemented positions already taken.
RICK PERRY
On stopping illegal immigration...
"Until we get that border secure, it's not going to stop. It's like a serious wound. You want to staunch the flow. That's not what's happening in this country now. For 30 years we heard people talk about 'well if we'll deal with this immigration--this illegal immigration issue, if we'll reform it, then we'll secure the border.' Now we're in plus 30 years of that. The American people don't trust Washington, D.C., to deal with this issue of immigration reform until we secure the border. ...
"You can secure the border. It takes boots on the ground. It takes the security fencing in the metropolitan areas and then you have the aviation assets. I'm talking about from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville flying 24-7 looking down with the technology to be able to see what's going on and identifying where there are activities that are obviously illegal or suspicious and then have a fast response team. That's what you have to do. I know how to secure that border."
On annual levels of legal immigration...
"I don't know if we need to reduce the number or not until we find out who these people are that are in the country illegally. That's the real challenge. If we get that taken care of first, then we can make a smart decision about whether we do or we don't need to have more visas being handed out."
RICK SANTORUM
On both legal and illegal immigration...
"I don't think this administration is serious about border security or serious about protecting working men and women. In the last 20 years, 35 million people have come into this country legally and illegally. Now, that can be a good thing and that can be a bad thing. But the reality is wages for those workers I've been talking about how wages have been flatlined for 20 years. We have never seen such decrepit wage growth and who are the 90 percent of the people who are coming in legally and illegally? Almost all unskilled workers to compete against our hardworking men and women who want a chance to succeed but we're not giving it to them. I'm the only person in this race that has called for not just securing the border or following up on the visas and imposing E-Verify, but calling for a 25 percent reduction in the unskilled labor that is coming into this country. It is a serious problem. Everyone else is dancing around it. I'm going to stand for the American worker."
On E-Verify...
"E-Verify has to be universal and employees both current and future have to comply with it."
JOHN KASICH
On sanctuary cities...
"I think they need to be eliminated. There is a Republican and Democrat agreement there. In terms of immigration, I mean, obviously the border needs to be secured. There needs to be an expanded guest worker program so people can move in and out and support their family and do it in a legal way."
On amnesty...
"With the 12 million [illegal aliens], we need to find out who they are, if they're law-abiding, God-fearing folks. They're going to have to pay a penalty towards legalization, they're going to have to wait. I think it's border, it's a reasonable guest worker program and it's the ones who are the 12 million if they violate the law they're going to have to be deported or put in prison. And at the same time, we clearly need to make sure that we can protect who gets in and out of this country and once we put something into effect like that, anyone who comes in has got to be send home. No one should be confused about it."
MARCO RUBIO
On amnesty...
"First, we have to prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. It's not good enough to just pass a law to say that we're going to bring it under control. People demand to see it."
JEB BUSH
On chain migration...
"I think we need to narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning. ...
"I would cut it down to spouses and minor children instead of adult siblings and adult parents."
For more on the forum, see Breitbart.com. You can also view our comparison of the 2016 Presidential Hopefuls at NumbersUSA.com/2016 (https://www.numbersusa.com/content/elections/races/presidential/2016-pre...).
