Republican Presidential Candidates on Immigration (ContributorNetwork)

According to a Gallup poll, when Americans were asked if they thought immigration should be maintained at the present level, increased or decreased, 78 percent responded that it should be decreased or maintained. The survey concluded that although Americans generally have positive views toward immigration, most favor reducing it.

Given this context, the Republicans candidates seeking the presidential nomination were asked during the most recent GOP debate what their views were on immigration and border security.

Here is what they said:

* Ron Paul: "If you subsidize something or give people incentives, you get more of it. So if you give easy road to citizenship, you're going to have more illegals ... mandating to the states and to Texas that we have to provide free medical care and free education, that's a great burden. It's a great burden to California and all the border states. So I would say eliminate all these benefits and talk about eliminating the welfare state because it's detrimental not only to here but the people that come because that's the incentive to bring their families with them."

* Herman Cain: "No. 1, we know that terrorists have come into this country by way of Mexico. Secondly, 40 percent of the people in Mexico, according to a survey, already believe that their country is a failed state. Thirdly, the number of people killed in Mexico last year equals the number of people killed in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. So yes, so let's solve the whole problem. No. 1, secure the border for real. No. 2, enforce the laws that are already there. We don't need new laws. No. 3, promote the current path to citizenship. Clean up the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., so people can come through the front door instead of sneaking in the side door. And No. 4, to deal with the illegals that are already here, empower the states to do what the federal government is not capable of doing."

* Newt Gingrich: "Einstein came here as an immigrant. So let's be clear how much the United States has drawn upon the world to be richer, better and more inclusive. ? So I think you've got to deal with this as a comprehensive approach that starts with controlling the border. ? I believe ultimately you have to find some system ? which includes the guest worker program, you need something like a World War II Selective Service Board that, frankly, reviews the people who are here. If you've come here recently, you have no ties to this country, you ought to go home. If you've been here 25 years and you got three kids and two grandkids, you've been paying taxes and obeying the law, you belong to a local church, I don't think we're going to separate you from your family, uproot you forcefully and kick you out."

* Mitt Romney: "Certainly we have to secure the border. And we talk about people who have been here 25 years, that is the extreme exception. ??? I'm not going to start drawing lines here about who gets to stay and who get to go. The principle is that we are not going to have an amnesty system that says that people who come here illegally get to stay for the rest of their life in this country legally."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111128/us_ac/10538169_republican_presidential_candidates_on_immigration

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