Gringrich Soldiers On, Suggests Immigration Plan

Reuters reported that: Newt Gingrich, whose campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination has gotten off to a rocky start, risked fresh controversy on Thursday by suggesting that some illegal immigrants living in the United States "may have earned the right to become legal." The former speaker of the House of Representatives launched his White House bid on May 11. But he has already drawn the ire of fellow conservatives by criticizing a Republican plan to overhaul the massive Medicare health insurance program and embracing a key element of President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare law. Gingrich was asked a question on a different hot-button issue -- immigration -- on Thursday in Iowa, the Midwestern state with a key early contest in the race for his party's presidential nomination. He preceded his response by acknowledging that he risked sparking another controversy. Gingrich recounted how World War Two-era U.S. draft boards chose who would serve in the military, saying a similar system might help deal with the millions of immigrants living in the United States illegally. "Because I think we are going to want to find some way to deal with the people who are here to distinguish between those who have no ties to the United States, and therefore you can deport them at minimum human cost, and those who, in fact, may have earned the right to become legal, but not citizens," Gingrich said.