At Saturday’s Iowa Freedom Summit that essentially kicked off the 2016 presidential contest, Dr. Ben Carson said America must get rid of magnets that attract illegal immigrants if the country is ever going to solve its illegal immigration problem.
Carson has said he will make a decision about 2016 by May. 1, and illegal immigration will be one of the most important issues in the primary cycle among Republican primary voters, especially in Iowa. On Saturday, he called for more criminal penalties for businesses that hire illegal immigrants.
“If you employ a person who is illegal, instead of getting a pass from the government, you should get a criminal activity on your record because it’s a crime,” Carson said at the event hosted by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and Citizens United.
In reference to President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty, Carson said that immigration policy should be made in Congress and not by the president or the Supreme Court. Carson also said that whoever wins the White House in 2016 should set a goal of sealing the border within a year. He said America has the “ability” to seal the border but just lacks the will to do so.
Regarding the illegal immigrants who are currently hiding in the shadows, Carson called for a guest-worker program in which illegal immigrants are allowed to leave the country before applying for work permits that Carson said should only be available for jobs that Americans will not take. He emphasized that illegal immigrants should not be able to apply for work permits while in America because “you shouldn’t get an advantage for breaking the law.”
He also addressed the rampant waste and fraud in the federal government and railed against government-controlled healthcare Calling himself “a vehement opposer” of Obamacare, Carson said that he doesn’t “believe in taking the most important thing the person has and putting it in the hands of government” because then it won’t be long before the government has “control of your whole life.”
He touted his pro-life credentials and used the beginning of his speech to introduce himself to Iowans and spoke about his mother, whom he called his “hero,” who forced him to read books and do book reports so that Carson could go from the bottom of the class to the top of the class. Touting his can-do attitude, Carson said a turning point in his life as youth was when he started to ignore all the naysayers and decided that he was the captain of his own ship.