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 News from Around the Americas | December 2007 
Huckabee Unveils Hardline Immigration Stance
 Daniel Nasaw - Guardian Unlimited
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| | An immigrant from Sierra Leone waits to become a US citizen during a naturalisation ceremony in Virginia. (Jim Watson/AFP) |
Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee today released an immigration plan that would require illegal aliens to leave the US or be barred for 10 years.
The proposal is stricter than that of his chief rivals for the Republican nomination. On the whole, the plan is a marked departure from Huckabee's more liberal immigration record as governor of Arkansas, and is an attempt to address one of the most serious charges levelled against him by his Republican rivals.
Huckabee has been assailed for supporting a 2005 proposal to offer scholarships to young illegal aliens who had excelled academically in Arkansas high schools and sought to attend one of the state's public higher education institutions.
The state senate rejected that bill, offered in 2005 by a liberal Little Rock Democratic state representative.
The toughest section of the nine-point plan is aimed at preventing "amnesty" for illegal aliens. It would give illegal aliens four months to register with US immigration authorities, then leave the country.
"Those who register and return to their home country will face no penalty if they later apply to immigrate or visit," the proposal reads. Those who don't register and leave will be barred from future re-entry for 10 years if they're caught. The proposal doesn't specify whether illegal aliens would be detained and deported.
Huckabee's new plan would also "reject" Mexico's "matricula consular" card, which is an identification document that the Mexican government issues to its citizens who reside in the United States.
Some banks and police departments accept the card as an official form of identification. Anti-illegal immigration activists maintain the card makes it easier for illegal aliens to navigate an American society that increasingly demands a photo identification card to do things such as open a bank account, enter an office building or board an airplane.
As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee encouraged an official Mexican foreign presence in the state, helping to prompt the opening of a Mexican consulate in Little Rock.
He travelled to Mexico for a meeting with then-president Vicente Fox. Consular officials arrived in Little Rock during the summer of 2006 and set up shop in a government-maintained office virtually free of charge. The consulate, the first official foreign mission in the state, opened this spring.
Huckabee's overture to the Mexican government drew criticism from anti-illegal immigration conservatives in Arkansas, and put him at odds with many within his own Republican party. Those critics specifically complained that the consulate would offer matricula consular cards to illegal immigrants in Arkansas.
Consular officials countered that the card is a document offered by the Mexican government to its nationals, and it's up to American authorities and businesses to honour it or not.
It remains unclear to what extent the US can in fact reject the card. The US government and some state authorities already limit its acceptance in official transactions.
Among other provisions, Huckabee's plan calls for a border fence, strengthening the US border patrol, discouraging dual citizenship, and toughening sanctions against employers who hire illegal aliens. The plan would mandate that employers verify employees' work eligibility. Currently, participation in a pilot verification system operated by the US government is voluntary.
Along with his moderate record on taxes, Huckabee's sympathy to illegal immigrants while he was governor has proved to be one of his candidacy's chief liabilities.
At last week's YouTube debate in St Petersburg, Florida, Romney went after Huckabee straight away on the issue, saying, "he fought for giving scholarships to illegal aliens".
Huckabee's new proposal brings him closer to the Republican line on the issue, and the points on employers and border security are similar to his rivals' proposals. The requirement that illegal aliens leave the country, however, is is stricter than anything proposed by his chief opponents.
Romney has called for curtailing federal funds to "sanctuary cities" that welcome illegal aliens. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's public remarks on the issue have focused on increasing border security and issuing a "tamper-proof" identification card. Arizona senator John McCain's plan also centres on securing the border.
The Democratic candidates, on the other hand, tend to favour what is described as "comprehensive" immigration reform that would offer illegal aliens some kind of path to legal status, often after paying a fine and learning English. |
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