Mike Huckabee's immigration plan announced

[UPDATES below] Mike Huckabee has released his immigration plan (link). It has as few details but isn't as strong as Mitt Romney's immigration plan. It's also not as detailed nor as strong as Fred Thompson's immigration plan. Last things first, the end of the plan says the following:
This plan is partially modeled on a proposal by Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies. ("Re: Immigration: Ten Points for a Successful Presidential Candidate," National Review, May 23, 2005.)
Reading that first might be a good way to start; this shout out might have been a mistake on The Huckster's part if Krikorian has issues with the scheme.

Like others, Huck wants to build the fence (by 2010) and increase the numbers of Border Patrol agents. Like Rudy, he also wants a virtual fence. Then, things get complicated:
3. Prevent Amnesty

Policies that promote or tolerate amnesty will be rejected.

Propose to provide all illegal immigrants a 120-day window to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and leave the country. Those who register and return to their home country will face no penalty if they later apply to immigrate or visit; those who do not return home will be, when caught, barred from future reentry for a period of 10 years.
First, the INS hasn't existed for over four years. So, I'm going to guess that whoever drew this up didn't really know what they're talking about. Second, I can just see how this plan would play among the current supporters of illegal immigration, from the New York Times to far-left racial power groups. In fact, I can practically hear the chants of "ethnic cleansing!" and see the images of boxcars right now.

And, I wonder whether those who do go home will then, in a similar fashion to the Mike Pence or Flake-Gutierrez plans ("touchback"), be able to immediately re-enter with a changed immigration status, i.e., amnesty. While there are many good questions this plan engenders, asking about that would be a good first question. And, someone more familiar with the specifics can discuss how under current law illegal aliens can likewise be barred from future reentry for 10 years.

And, I can imagine that millions of illegal aliens would not return home. What exactly does Huck plan to do in that case?

Then:
Employment is the chief draw for most illegal immigrants and denying them jobs is the centerpiece of an attrition strategy.
OK, except what's outlined above isn't an "attrition strategy". It's a "mass exodus which will inflame the left and cause endless lawsuits by the ACLU et al" strategy.

Then, something that might turn into a national ID card, although no details are provided:
Institute a universal, mandatory citizenship verification system as part of the normal hiring process.
This section has an asterix which references the recent no-match suit brought to us by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the ACLU:
Prevent the IRS and the Social Security Administration from accepting fraudulent Social Security numbers or numbers that don't match the employees' names.
After supporting the Fair Tax and the Clear Act, Huckabee gets ironic:
Reject Mexico's "matricula consular" card, which functions as an illegal-immigrant identification card.
In fact, Huckabee enabled Mexico to pass out thousands of those so far this year due to him pushing for a consulate to be built in Arkansas.

On the bright side, he says he wants to discourage dual citizenship; that may be similar to current attempts to discourage that.

And, he also says he wants to support legal immigration, end the visa lottery, cut back on chain migration (adult brothers and sisters), and increase high-skilled immigration.

Some of it sounds good, but the mass exodus part is doomed to fail and would probably end up being amnesty. And, of course, there's Huckabee's horrendous record to consider.

So, thanks, but no thanks.

UPDATE: Via this we learn the Mark Krikorian likes the plan. Unfortunately, I have to disagree. While parts of it are certainly good, I have little doubt that it won't be long before the usual suspects start weighing in on the mass exodus plan which, even if those here illegally wanted to take part in would be a logistical nightmare. Choosing a round figure of 12,000,000 illegal aliens over 120 days is 100,000 people per day (or more than 10,000 per working hour, since they'd have to register). And, somewhat less than half of those would be from countries other than Mexico. And, once again, there's everything Huckabee has said and done on this issue which would result in him providing a lot of leeway in his plan.

UPDATE 2: It took a while, but the left is starting their chants. New Democrat Network (Simon Rosenberg) says (ndnblog.org/?q=node/1584):
No matter how you feel about the morality of the plan, or its practicality, it is amazing that the man who may win the GOP nomination is calling for the forced expulsion of 5 percent of the current American workforce. The economic and societal chaos these kinds of plans would create is almost unimaginable.
"Booman" links to that (boomantribune.com/story/2007/12/8/112236/031) and goes even nutrootier, saying that Huck is vying (with Joe Biden's Iraq partition plan) for the "Adolf Eichmann Mass Relocation Award".

Comments

the plan is to become mexico over night that is the real plan, no one has any plan but that one. the only guy that can save your butt's is Ron Paul he has a real plan remove 10 million within 5 years and remove 30 million by stopping the people who hire the rats and put many in jail and real finds that will stop the enemies of freedom once and for all time. one plan put Bush and Hill and bill in prison for life. two plan put real guards on the borders, and start shooting the drug dealers, that would be a real start but it will never happen. the Dawes plan.. go to washington and hang 90 percent of the government from tree's..that would send a real message and think of the next people who take office would that not make for great Communication with our Political people in office? The rope and the tree can help us all understand what can happen if you shit in the face of the people..if you know what i mean?

Any plan that calls for the expulsion of all undocumented immigrants is a non-starter -- both with reality and with the American voter. There is no re-entry provision, so those "going home" are facing a minimum of a five year visa wait, and a wait of up to 22 years depending on their home country, assuming they have a close family member or employer willing to petition for them, which many do not. The reason people do not "go home and come back legally" now is a 10 year bar to reentry already in our immigration law, plus the 5-22 year wait for a visa (if they qualify). So we are removing 1 in 20 workers in the US and millions who live with legal immigrants and citizens, and (like most) have been here for more than 5 years. They are not going anywhere, folks. Get over it. And the "no legal status for anyone here illegally" crowd, please get out of the way so we can solve this. But at least Huckabee isn't an utter flaming coward punk like Tancredo who won't even speak at this weekend's debate after spending a year in Iowa demonizing Latinos and stoking fears that terrorists will attack our Midwestern malls (it is Americans attacking malls, FYI). He is chickening out when it comes to defending a vision of a country devoid of all 12 million immigrants here illegally and his plan to reduce legal immigration to barely 5,000 visas per year. If he weren't so irrelevent ("Mister 1 percent"), he'd be more offensive.

AndiMedi: We absolutely must not pass new laws to legalize those who came here illegally. This will only encourage more illegal immigration in the future. If some of them can find a way to stay here legally under our current laws then that is another matter. Attrition through enforcement will work, if we will just give it a chance. I think that the SAVE act would be a great step in the right direction. Since you have called Tancredo a punk, I don't think I will waste any more time trying to communicate with you.

You have to be more careful when you analyze the Huckster's language. He is a very smooth operator and if you don't listen closely you'll get scammed. What you missed here was his use of the word "Propose" at the begiinning of: "Propose to provide all illegal immigrants a 120-day window to ...." That is about the weakest possible verb and by going on record with this policy HE HAS ALREADY KEPT THAT PROMISE. He proposed it. It is not going anywhere. He kept his promise by proposing it so now it is time to move on to what he really wants. So bring on the shamnesty.

"They are not going anywhere, folks. Get over it. And the "no legal status for anyone here illegally" crowd, please get out of the way so we can solve this." In other words, the "amnesty for all" crowd will shove amnesty down the throat of the entire country. And we're supposed to shut up and open wide? Don't think so...........

As an educated professional, the only part I really don't like is increasing legal immigration of the "skilled and educated"... this might sound like a good idea, unless YOU are a skilled and educated American who would like a job. As it is, I really don't like having to compete so much to get a good job when I have a lot of time and money invested in my education already. Allowing more legal immigrants, even if they are educated, does NOT benefit the country, it only benefits THEM, in addition to having a direct negative effect on legal citizens who are also trying to get ahead, and who intend to stay in and work for the good of this country. Immigrants have no real need to serve the best interests of the country, but legal citizens who are born and raised here certainly do, and we need to start putting Americans first. When I entered grad school, fully HALF of the class came straight from China. Sorry, but what the heck... and we already have too many PhDs in many fields, so that getting one is now a waste of time, esp. since there are so many non-native PhDs now competing for any decent paying scientific job. Personally I would like to see no more international students, period. It's also a National Security risk to be training non-natives in certain scientific areas. Student Visas are also a great way for terrorists to enter the country, since there is no real tracking or enforcement for them. We should not be giving any out in the first place if we cannot enforce the laws to begin with. Give Americans the competitive advantage. AMERICA FOR AMERICANS !!!