Posted on October 30, 2009

Path to Legalization Needed, GOP Candidate Whitman Says

Sandra Dibble, Union-Tribune (San Diego), October 29, 2009

With the San Ysidro border fence as her backdrop, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman spoke out on immigration policy issues yesterday, saying it is “simply not practical” to deport the estimated 12.5 million illegal immigrants living and working in the United States.

The candidate, 53, said the solution is to find a mechanism that allows them to live here legally. “Can we get a fair program where people stand at the back of the line, they pay a fine, they do some things that would ultimately allow a path to legalization?” she asked.

The former chief executive of online auction company eBay made her remarks after a two-hour ride-along with two U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Though immigration is a federal issue, the governor “has to weigh in much more heavily on getting the federal government to fulfill its responsibility of paying for border control, of helping to pay for illegal immigrants that are in our prisons,” Whitman said.

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