Area illegal immigration foe targets Huckabee

FREELAND – The founder of a Hazleton-based anti-illegal immigration group left for Iowa on Wednesday to join other activists to discredit GOP presidential contender Mike Huckabee before the Iowa caucus.

“We’re going to expose to Iowa voters that Mike Huckabee, who is currently leading in the Iowa polls, is … a fraud, and his record speaks volumes. He does not care about immigration reform, and basically, we need to go out there and get the word out,” Dan Smeriglio, president and founder of Voice of the People USA, said Wednesday at a press conference at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Freeland.

Smeriglio will join William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee, and Peter Gadiel, of 9/11 Families for a Secure America, to “warn Republican voters” in Iowa about Huckabee’s “touchback amnesty plan” in anticipation of the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus.

Caucuses are meetings at which members of political parties gather to make policy decisions, elect leaders and select candidates. In a few states, they serve as an alternative to primary elections.

Since 1972, the Iowa caucus has been the first major electoral event of the presidential nominating process and has served as an early indicator for which presidential candidate might win his or her party’s nomination at the party’s national convention.

After setting up a command center Wednesday night, the leaders of the three anti-illegal immigration groups plan over the next four days to conduct media interviews, initiate a phone campaign to as many as 42,000 registered Republican Iowan voters and go door-to-door to spread their message about Huckabee, Smeriglio said.

Gheen, of ALIPAC, said the activists will warn voters that Huckabee and fellow GOP presidential contenders Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain have “pro-amnesty” stances.

On his Web site mikehuckabee.com, Huckabee details a nine-point “strategy for immigration enforcement and border security” that includes rejecting policies that promote or tolerate amnesty.

Under the amnesty provision, Huckabee proposes to provide all illegal immigrants 120 days to register with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services 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, will be barred from future re-entry for a period of 10 years, according to the Web site.

But Gheen said Huckabee “is trying to deceive voters with a tough immigration stance on his Web site that excludes his comments to FOX News on Dec. 9 where he says illegal aliens can return within days.”

“Our team will expose the Huckster and the endorsement of lone Minuteman Jim Gilchrist, which will not save him from the truth. … Eighty-four leaders have signed a letter rebuking Gilchrist and Huckabee for their support of a touchback amnesty plan modeled after the Pence plan. Within a few days, most GOP voters will know about this trick,” Gheen said.

Frank Scavo, Voice of the People’s chairman of the board, said educating local voters about illegal immigration issues is not the group’s sole purpose. “It’s also to overcome the millions of dollars of advertising that the presidential candidates are going to be putting out there.”

Smeriglio said Voice of the People is not yet endorsing any presidential candidate, but members believe Huckabee and McCain have the worst illegal immigration stances among the GOP presidential candidates.

Scavo said Smeriglio and the other activists plan to meet with representatives from the campaigns of GOP candidates Giuliani, McCain, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney as well as representatives of Democratic candidates John Edwards and Barack Obama.

ON THE WEB

Visit www.timesleader.com to watch video clips from Wednesday’s press conference.