Gingrich: Local Boards Should Determine Deportation Status
I’ll ask again — how the hell is this man relevant in 2011? WTF.
From Yahoo! News:
Gingrich fielded criticism this week after arguing that some illegal immigrants with close ties to their community should not be deported.
“Several of my friends were explicitly distorting what I said, even though they knew better,” Gingrich said at a campaign stop in Naples, Fla., on Friday. “So I think it takes a few days to clarify that in fact what they are saying isn’t true.”
Under Gingrich’s plan, which he has articulated before, the federal government would establish a system of local boards to determine whether illegal immigrants could be permitted to remain in the United States based on their ties to the community.
“I propose that we take the World War II model of the selective service program,” Gingrich said. “In World War II, local community citizens judged who ought to be drafted and who shouldn’t … . It requires trusting citizens rather than bureaucrats. It’s a jury system for local communities.”
Gingrich added that he thought that immigrants eligible to stay should have spent at least 25 years in the country, have close ties to a community and a family, but predicted that most would voluntarily leave.
“I think the vast majority will go home,” he said. “They should go home and they should reapply. I don’t think [they] should be eligible for citizenship.”
Local boards to determine immigration status ? That’s what the federal government is for. Is this just some sort of wingnut states’ rights argument or something?
