2011 GOP primary debate in Manchester NH: on Immigration

Newt Gingrich: Use National Guard on US-Mexican border

CAIN: I don't believe so. But let's look at solving the real problem, OK? #1, get serious about securing our borders. #2, enforce the laws that are already there. #3, promote a path to citizenship by cleaning up the bureaucracy.

GINGRICH: Herman Cain's essentially right, you break it down. First of all, you control the border. We can ask the National Guard to go to Iraq. We ask the National Guard to go to Afghanistan. Somehow we would have done more for American security if we had had the National Guard on the border. If you don't want to use the National Guard, take half of the current Department of Homeland Security bureaucracy in Washington, transplant it to Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. You'll have more than enough people to control the border.

Rick Santorum: No benefits for illegal immigrants

SANTORUM: Well, I'm the son of a legal immigrant, and believe in legal immigration. But the federal government should not require states to provide government services. And I think most people who come to this country--certainly all people who come here legally--want it because they wanted the opportunities of this country. And that's what we should be offering. We should not be offering to people-- particularly those who broke the law to come here or overstayed their visa--we should not be offering government benefits.

Q: [to Paul]: But should taxpayers have to pay for that care?

PAUL: No, they should not be forced to.

PAWLENTY: I'm a strong supporter of state rights, but if the federal government won't do its job--in this case, protecting and securing our border--then let the states do it. And they will.

Ron Paul: Let churches provide services for immigrants, not state

SANTORUM: We should not be offering to people--particularly those who broke the law to come here or overstayed their visa--we should not be offering government benefits.

Q: [to Paul]: But should taxpayers have to pay for that care?

PAUL: No, they should not be forced to. But you know, there was a time when we didn't depend on government for everything. There was a time when the Catholic Church actually looked after immigrants. We shouldn't be penalizing the Catholic Church, because they're trying to fulfill a role. And some of the anti-immigrants want to come down hard on the Catholic Church, and that is wrong. Freedom has solved these kind of problems before. You don't have to say, oh, there won't be any care and everybody is going to die on the streets without medical care. That's the implication of the question. That's just not true, and you shouldn't accept it.

Tim Pawlenty: If feds won't protect border, then let the states do it

SANTORUM: Well, I'm the son of a legal immigrant, and believe in legal immigration. But the federal government should not require states to provide government services.

Q: [to Pawlenty]: Should each state decide what it does on immigration? Or would you make this is a federal purview, period?

PAWLENTY: I'm a strong supporter of state rights, but if the federal government won't do its job--in this case, protecting and securing our border--then let the states do it. And they will. When President Bush asked governors to volunteer their National Guard to go to the border to help reinforce our border, through Operation Jump Start, I was one of the few governors who did it. I sent Minnesota National Guard there to reinforce the border, and it works. And that's what we need to do.