Immigration a Big Issue to NH, Iowa GOP
By HOLLY RAMER
Associated Press
December 17, 2007
Page 2 of 2
''And it goes along with the terror issue because it's telling us we don't know who's in this country,'' she said.
GOP state chairmen in both New Hampshire and Iowa say concerns about national security have made illegal immigration a top issue in their states.
''People are worried about not just illegal immigrants that can come over from Mexico, they just can come over from all over the world,'' said Iowa chairman Ray Hoffman. ''I think this is their fear of the safety of our country.''
Sherman plans to vote for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in New Hampshire's Jan. 8 primary partly because of his stance on illegal immigration.
Romney has proposed bolstering border patrols, creating employment eligibility cards and penalizing employers who hire illegal aliens who lack the cards. He also has criticized rival Rudy Giuliani for discouraging the prosecution of illegal immigrants while he was mayor of New York -- an accusation Giuliani deflected in a recent debate by pointing out that Romney had illegal immigrants work on his lawn.
Romney, who leads in New Hampshire in the AP poll but faces a surging former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Iowa, is seen by Republicans in both states as the candidate best able to handle illegal immigration. Huckabee recently released his own immigration plan, which takes a tough stance similar to those taken by Romney and other GOP rivals. But Huckabee has been more forgiving in the past of some here illegally: As Arkansas governor, he attempted to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for scholarships and in-state college tuition.
Huckabee defends those moves.
''In all due respect, we are a better country than to punish children for what their parents did,'' he said last month.
Last week, Romney began airing the first negative ad of his campaign in Iowa, criticizing Huckabee's record on immigration.
''Mitt Romney stood up, and vetoed in-state tuition for illegal aliens, opposed driver's licenses for illegals. Mike Huckabee? Supported in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants. Huckabee even supported taxpayer-funded scholarships for illegal aliens. On immigration, the choice matters,'' the ad's narrator intones.
McCain, meanwhile, has regained some of the support he lost last spring when he was pushing a comprehensive immigration bill that ultimately failed in Congress. He still supports a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, but has emphasized recently that securing the borders must come first. Sherman said she appreciates McCain's new attitude.
''Senator McCain learned the hard way that his approach was not the right one,'' she said.
In Durham, McCain told the skeptical employee at Goss International that under his bill, illegal immigrants seeking to become citizens would have had to pay fines and get in line behind those here legally. But he also offered a broader perspective.
''They are God's children. They are human beings. Many of them come just because they need a job. And I think many of them, as you know, are badly exploited and mistreated by these coyotes and others,'' he said. ''So I think we ought to be sure we look at the humanitarian side of this issue to try to make sure that all human beings are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, whether they are citizens of this country or not.''
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