Setting the record straight on Newt Gingrich

Today the 270 View is going to discuss and set the record straight on Newt Gingrich's horrible ideas for reforming immigration. The reality is that this guy is really clueless and probably should of dropped out of the presidential race a long time ago. While he casts himself as a contender for the White House the reality is that he has next to no chance of making it onto the ballot against Barack Obama. I suppose if meteorites struck all of the current candidates who actually had a chance (and no one else then decided to enter the race) then he might have a chance but lets be honest that is not going to happen. Regardless though we are going to discuss a few of his less than stellar ideas on immigration today.

First off Mr. Gingrich feels that undocumented youth should serve in the military in order to receive citizenship. As a military veteran myself it is ironic that candidate Gingrich feels this way when he sought out and received a military service deferment in order to not have to serve in the United States military during the Vietnam conflict. During this conflict many Wiregrass citizens chose to voluntarily join or were drafted into military service while people like Mr. Gingrich took a less dangerous path by dodging the obligation that others felt in serving. So how is it that Mr. Gingrich wishes to push military service onto undocumented youth when he himself as a legal citizen took steps to circumvent having to serve? With both the current conflicts in the middle east (Iraq & Afghanistan) ending the military is entering a period of down sizing. So it is debatable that the military even needs new recruits in numbers larger than it already could attract when people who possibly want to be in uniform might be phased out as the military shrinks over the next few years. Perhaps Mr. Gingrich is aware of this and just sees referring immigrants to non-existing work in the military as a way of not really having to offer an actual pathway to citizenship in any real or meaningful numbers.

Following the rampant and well documented abuses in the current for-profit detention system by companies like Corrections Corporation of America and the Geo Corporation it is worth noting that Mr. Gingrich favors expanding the monetization of undocumented workers by handing management of a guest worker program over to companies like American Express, Visa, or MasterCard. Mr. Gingrich does not seem to understand that human beings are not commodities that can be used to increase corporate profits. The current for-profit detention model is a failure and this laughable and misguided idea of his would also be doomed to failure and a huge waste of tax payer provided funds.

With ideas like these one can clearly see that Newt Gingrich is out of touch with any real ideas on immigration reform. He remains opposed to the Dream Act and instead sees ways of expanding the ability for private corporations to cash in on undocumented immigrants. Currently it is pretty obvious that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is doing a horrible job in this country. But does Newt Gingrich really have such little faith in ICE that he would remove them from large parts of the immigration system and instead replace them with even more corporations who could then profit off of immigration and the taxpayers instead of simply reforming current ICE policies.