During a recent interview with Univision (see video below), GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich talked about his support for a pathway to citizenship (read amnesty) for illegal aliens that have been in the United States for a number of years and have contributed to our society. Mr. Gingrich went on to ridicule and demean the more enforcement oriented positions of his opponents – mainly Mitt Romney’s – showing how out of touch the former Speaker is with the rest of the American electorate.
Finally, candidate Gingrich touted his important work and support for the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), viewed by many open border advocates as one of the greatest pieces of legislation to be signed into law over the past 40 years. Mr. Gingrich, who at one point in his career was a history professor, would do well to review what has happened since this law was passed. IRCA, which was supposed to tightly secure our borders and implement internal enforcement measures in exchange for amnesty for about 3 million illegal aliens, was a failure from an enforcement perspective. The lack of enforcement has now resulted in about 12 million illegal aliens taking up residence in the U.S., with thousands more crossing the border each month.
I have a great article for Mr. Gingrich (who repeatedly invokes the name of Ronald Reagan on the campaign trail) to read before he continues down the road of ‘I was instrumental in passing IRCA’ – it’s an op-ed by former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese titled “Reagan Would Not Repeat Amnesty Mistake” and the title itself doesn’t leave much to the imagination.
If Mr. Gingrich thinks that pandering an issue as large as immigration is a political winner, he should have a quick chat with Rick Perry and see how that approach worked for him.