Gingrich Talks Immigration In North Texas
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The road to the White House passed through North Texas on Thursday. In Dallas, 300 Tea Party members welcomed former Speaker of the House turned presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich saved his harshest words for President Barack Obama and, what he called, Obama's radically liberal policies. "On one hand, you have the most effective food stamp president in American history," Gingrich said. "I want to be the most effective paycheck president in history."
To some Tea Party members here in Texas, illegal immigration is the most important isssue. In a one-on-one interview with CBS 11 News, Gingrich said that he supports tightening the U.S./Mexico border and a guest worker program that would allow people to work in the United States on a temporary basis.
Day laborers who have been in the U.S. for a short period of time should be sent home immediately, Gingrich said. But for an illegal immigrant who has been in the U.S. for 20 or 30 years, has a family and has paid taxes, Gingrich said, "You're nonetheless inside the law, and allowed to be a guest worker and allowed to live here."
Gingrich is opposed to mass deportations. "Some people will walk in and say 'deport everybody.' Well, go through Dallas and tell me how you're going to do that," he said. "Tell me how long you think people will tolerate the pain of splitting families, children crying -- that's not who we are as a nation."
When asked if that was an amnesty program, Gingrich said, "No, it's not amnesty. You have to pay a penalty and you can't be a citizen. To be a citizen, you'd have to re-apply and go to the end of the line."
Linda Cox of Dallas attended Gingrich's speech and said that she liked what she heard. "In my mind, he has a shot," she said. "I think, if more people listened to him, then I think he'd have more of a shot."
After a very slow start, Gingrich's debate performances have helped him rise in the polls. He told CBS 11 News on Thursday that his campaign had raised the same amount of money in one day (Wednesday) as it had in half of the month of July.
The Obama campaign did not return an email seeking comment. But in a statement, Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirsten Gray said, "The reality is that the only candidate with real solutions to our nation's economic issues, with an actual workable jobs plan, is President Obama."
