MANCHESTER, N.H. — The Republican Party’s presidential class demanded aggressive steps to curb illegal immigration, seizing on a delicate political issue while facing off in New Hampshire on Monday night during a crowded and pointed preview of the 2016 primary season’s first full-fledged debate.
All but three of the 17 major Republican candidates for president participated in what was essentially a debate lite, which — unlike Thursday’s nationally televised debate in Cleveland — didn’t have a cut-off for participation.
Without exception, the candidates aimed their criticism at Democrats instead of each other in a two-hour meeting where they had more in common than not. Not mentioned was the candidate making the most news headed into Thursday’s debate: Donald Trump. The billionaire businessman declined to participate in Monday’s gathering, but is poised to take center stage later in the week.
Monday’s meeting offered a prime-time practice round for the GOP’s most ambitious, appearing on stage one at a time, who addressed several contentious issues, immigration topping a list that also included abortion and climate change.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who may not qualify for the upcoming debate as one of the GOP’s top 10 candidates in national polling, called the flow of immigrants crossing the border illegally “a serious wound.”
“You want to stanch the flow,” he said as his Republican rivals watched from the front row of the crowded St. Anselm College auditorium. On those immigrants who have overstayed visas, Perry charged, “You go find ‘em, you pick ‘em up and you send ‘em back where they’re from.”
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum went further, calling for a 25 percent reduction of low-skilled immigrants coming into the country legally.
“Everyone else is dancing around it. I’m going to stand for the American worker,” Santorum declared.
Monday’s participants included seven current or former governors, four senators, a businesswoman, a retired neurosurgeon and one former senator. Trump, who launched his presidential bid by calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, was among only three major candidates who didn’t participate.
Monday’s event was broadcast live on C-SPAN and local television stations in Iowa and South Carolina — states that, along with New Hampshire, will host the first contests in the presidential primary calendar next February.
Just an hour before the forum began, the Senate blocked a GOP-backed bill to strip funding from Planned Parenthood, reviving a debate on social issues that some Republican officials hoped to avoid in 2016.
Three of the four senators participating in Monday’s event —Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky — did so via satellite from C-SPAN’s Washington studio so they wouldn’t miss the high-profile vote.
“We had to be here to vote to de-fund Planned Parenthood,” Cruz said.
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