Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum today appeared before the Westside Conservative Breakfast club in Urbandale where he staked out one of the most conservative positions on immigration in the Republican race for president.
Santorum wants to limit not just illegal immigration but legal entry into the country.
Santorum says too many people are coming here legally and competing for American jobs.
“We changed the law in 1990, Congress did, to allow in adult children,” Santorum says. “Not just minor children,and parents of that person and the brothers and sisters of that person and their spouses.”
Santorum says those immigrants can then invite their spouses and children, creating what he calls a chain of migration.
“A lot of it is coming from third world countries that are hostile to the United States,” Santorum says.
Santorum says the U.S. now has the highest level of legal immigration in the history of the country.
He adds that among the Republican candidates, only he and billionaire businessman Donald Trump are calling for limiting legal immigration.
Santorum also calls for deporting as many as half of the country’s roughly 11 million illegal immigrants. He said that would be easier than some people think since half of those came on visas that are now expired, rather than sneaking over the border.
Santorum also opposes automatic citizenship for children born of illegal immigrants. He says Canada is the only other country with such a policy. He says Congress could change that, though many experts say it would require a constitutional amendment.