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Jon Huntsman on Immigration

Republican UT Governor


H1B visa process is broken; we need immigrant brainpower

Q: How do Republicans attract Latino voters?

SANTORUM: you attract Latino voters by talking about the importance of immigration. But we need to finish the border fence].

HUNTSMAN: We can secure the border through means of fences, through technology, through the deployment of our National Guard troops, we can get it done. But they were given a driver's license before and they were using that for identification purposes. And I thought that was wrong. Instead we issued a driver privilege card, which in our state allowed our economy to continue to function. And it said in very bold letters, not to be used for identification purposes. But Latino voters want opportunity. The greatest thing that we can do on illegal immigration is fix homeland security. When are we going to have an honest conversation in this country about the root causes? We can't process people. The H1B visa process is broken. We need to bring in brain power to this country to shore up our economic might.

Source: 2011 GOP Tea Party debate in Tampa FL , Sep 12, 2011

Focus on fixing legal immigration as well as illegal

President Reagan, when he made his decision [on immigration and amnesty] back in 1987, he saw this as a human issue. And I hope that all of us, as we deal with this immigration issue, will always see it as an issue that resolves around real human beings.

Yes, they came here in an illegal fashion. And yes, they should be punished in some form or fashion.

We can find a solution. If President Reagan were here, he would speak to the American people and he would lay out in hopeful, optimistic terms how we can get there, remembering full well that we're dealing with human beings here. We have to agree.

But let me just say one thing about legal immigration. Let's not lose sight of the fact that our legal immigration system is broken. And if we want to do something about attracting brain power to this country, we need to focus as much on legal immigration.

Source: 2011 GOP debate in Simi Valley CA at the Reagan Library , Sep 7, 2011

End patchwork of state laws & just secure the border

Q: You said that we need to build a fence to secure our borders, but then we need to deal with the millions of illegal immigrants already here in the country. You said, "There's got to be an alternative to sending them back. That's unrealistic." Are you proposing citizenship for illegal aliens?

A: The thing we need to do most on illegal immigration--because there has been zero leadership in Washington., we've created this patchwork of solutions in the states, which makes for a very complex & confusing environment. When elected president, I'm simply going to prove to the American people that we can secure the border. That's what they want done. And I'm not going to talk about anything else until we get it done. We can finish. And I will talk to the fou border state governors and get verification from them that, in fact, we've secured the border. And once that is done, then we can move on. But this discussion has zero in the way of any intellectual credibility until such time as we secure the border.

Source: Iowa Straw Poll 2011 GOP debate in Ames Iowa , Aug 11, 2011

Vetoed repeal of college tuition for illegal immigrants

On social issues, Huntsman the governor backed bills providing civil rights protections to gays and lesbians, and threatened to veto a measure repealing in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants.

Neither measure passed the Legislature during his time in office; the tuition law was passed two years before he came into office, and civil unions have never been seriously debated.

Source: Huffington Post, "Jon Huntsman Record" , May 29, 2011

Border fence repulses me; inconsistent with America's image

Huntsman said, "I hate the thought of a fence on the border. As an American, the thought of a fence to some extent repulses me, because it is not consistent with the image that we projected to the rest of the world. But the situation is such today that I don't think we have a choice, and before we begin the conversation of processing 11 or 12 million undocumented workers, we've got to secure the border. There's got to be an alternative rather than sending people back. That's unrealistic," he said.
Source: William L. Houston on WesternYouth.org , May 22, 2011

2008: GOP should tack to the middle on immigration

A closer look at his record reveals a nuanced approach to Republican politics. Shortly after Obama was swept into office in a tidal wave of Democratic victories, the popular governor began articulating a new national vision for the GOP, one designed to appeal to all time zones. Warning that the party was losing young voters, he argued that Republicans would need to tack to the middle on three hot-button issues if they were to maintain national relevance: immigration, gay rights, and the environment.

Today that strategy might seem out of step with recent GOP victories, but Weaver and many of his fellow moderates believe Huntsman is uniquely qualified to unify competing factions on the right and usher in a new era for the Republican Party.

Source: Newsweek magazine, "The Manchurian Candidate" , Jan 4, 2011

Other candidates on Immigration: Jon Huntsman on other issues:
Incumbents:
Pres.Barack Obama
V.P.Joe Biden
GOP Candidates:
Gov.Mitt Romney(MA)
Rep.Paul Ryan(WI)
Third Party Candidates:
Mayor Rocky Anderson(J)
Roseanne Barr(PF)
Rep.Virgil Goode(C)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L)
Jill Stein(G)
Andre Barnett(Ref.)

GOP Withdrawals:
Rep.Michele Bachmann(MN)
Herman Cain(GA)
Rep.Newt Gingrich(GA)
Gov.Sarah Palin(AK)
Rep.Ron Paul(TX)
Gov.Tim Pawlenty(MN)
Gov.Rick Perry(TX)
Gov.Buddy Roemer(LA)
Sen.Rick Santorum(PA)
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Page last updated: Mar 24, 2013