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Republicans soften tone in bilingual debate
GOP presidential candidates keep it polite and avoid confrontations on illegal immigration at a bilingual debate at the University of Miami.

Posted on Mon, Dec. 10, 2007

BY BETH REINHARD AND LAURA FIGUEROA
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com

Gov. Mike Huckabee, left, Sen. Fred Thompson, Gov. Mitt Romney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Congressman Ron Paul, Sen. John McCain, and Congressman Duncan Hunter, right, participate Sunday in the Republican Candidate Presidential Forum at University of Miami's BankUnited Center in Coral Gables.

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Facing a Spanish-speaking national audience for the first time, the Republican presidential candidates soft-pedaled their hard-line stances on immigration and sidestepped questions about the estimated 12 million undocumented workers already living in the United States.

Candidates made the appeal that stopping illegal immigration would preserve legal immigration, and that it would be unfair to allow undocumented workers to cut in front of people who have been following the law.

Mike Huckabee, the one-time underdog rising in the polls, even struck a sympathetic note.

''When people come to this country, they shouldn't fear,'' the former governor of Arkansas said. ``They shouldn't live in hiding. They ought to have their heads up.''

Huckabee didn't mention his plan released two days ago, which calls for deporting undocumented immigrants who don't return to their home country, fining employers who hire them, and building a fence along the Mexican border by 2010.

Sunday's debate, and a similar forum with the Democratic candidates in September, made history as the first presidential debates on Spanish-language television. The questions were asked in Spanish by Univisión anchors Maria Elena Salinas and Jorge Ramos -- household names in the Hispanic community -- and simultaneously translated into English for the candidates.

Coming just 25 days before the first votes are cast in Iowa on Jan. 3, the debate was expected to draw a larger average audience than the 2.2 million who watched the Democratic debate.

POLITE EXCHANGE

But viewers who expected a brawl in light of the backbiting that has marked the campaign in recent weeks were left hanging when the candidates only mentioned each other to point out agreements.

Mitt Romney has been the most aggressive candidate on immigration, hammering Giuliani for overseeing a ''sanctuary city'' for undocumented workers when he was mayor of New York. Romney has also gone after Huckabee for backing college scholarships for the children of illegal immigrants. Romney did not revive either of those attacks in front of the crowd of 3,200 people and Hispanic television audience.

Giuliani bit his tongue as well, declining to revive his accusation from the last debate that Romney lives in a ''sanctuary mansion'' because his landscaping company used undocumented immigrants. Romney fired the company last week after published reports that one year after learning about the practice, undocumented workers were still tending his lawn.

Romney still had to address the issue when one of the moderators asked him if he had reported the company to immigration authorities. He didn't answer that question directly but instead called for an ''employment verification system'' so that companies can avoid hiring undocumented workers.

Although the candidates kept it polite on stage, Fred Thompson's campaign circulated press clippings from 2002 in which Huckabee called for an end to the trade embargo with Cuba. In a letter to President Bush, Huckabee wrote at the time: ``U.S. policy on Cuba has not accomplished its stated goal of toppling the Castro regime and instead has provided Castro with a convenient excuse for his own failed system of government.''

That stance is bound to rile many Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade, who believe that the embargo helps undermine Fidel Castro's repressive regime.

Huckabee is certain to face questions about the embargo at a Monday morning press conference in Miami, where he is expecting an endorsement from Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, one of the most prominent Cuban-American Republicans in the state.

Caught off guard, Huckabee's campaign said two hours after the debate that he had since changed his position on the embargo after consulting with Cuban-American leaders. ''He's committed to vetoing any legislation that lifts sanctions on Cuba,'' said Huckabee spokeswoman Alice Stewart.

The local anti-Castro sentiment was evident when U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was booed for saying the U.S. should talk to Cuba and allow trade and travel. Other candidates made clear their hostility for Castro and his brother, Raúl.

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California cited the failed Cuban invasion under Democratic President John F. Kennedy as one reason young people should register Republican. He also touted former President Ronald Reagan's support for ''freedom fighters'' in El Salvador.

''It's a story of two parties,'' Hunter said. ``It's a story of the party of freedom. That's the Republican party.''

Hunter was also the most blunt when it came to illegal immigration, saying: ``We have to establish the rule of law, and people who are here illegally have to go home.''

McCain's support for legislation in Congress that would have allowed undocumented workers to earn legal status was widely blamed for the downturn in his campaign over the summer. But in front of the immigrant-friendly audience, his position amounted to a home field advantage. ''We learned Americans want the borders secure first,'' said the Arizona senator. ``We have to address this issue with compassion and love because these are human beings.''

McCain and Hunter were the only two candidates who accepted the original invitation from Univisión to debate on Sept. 16. But Sunday, the entire field expressed gratitude for the opportunity.

Fred Thompson, who had not officially joined the race when the initial invitation went out, said: ``I think we do share a lot in this country, whether we are Hispanic or not Hispanic. I think we have some of the same basic values.''

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Paul stood out for his call to talk to Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, but also for his answer to a question about whether English should be the official language of the U.S. ''It's practical because we can all understand each other,'' he said. ``I think all federal things should be in English.''

Giuliani offered a sharp contrast to Paul's statement that the U.S. should reached out to Chávez in ''friendship.'' Giuliani said he agreed with King Juan Carlos of Spain, who responded to a Chávez insult by saying: ``Why don't you shut up?''

McCain said it in Spanish: ``Por qué no te callas?''

Giuliani and Paul also mixed it up over the former mayor's support for requiring immigrants to carry tamper-proof ID cards. Giuliani said, ``If you want to come into the United States, you have to identify yourself. . . We'll make it impossible to come illegally so people don't hurt themselves as well as hurt us.''

Paul, picking up on an earlier question about anti-Hispanic bias, said: ``If we want to prevent a more negative tone, we won't be working on a tamper-proof ID. How can you have a tamper-proof ID for illegals or immigrants without doing it to everybody else? That's going to lead to a national ID card, which I absolutely oppose.''