HispanicBusiness

Is Lou Dobbs suddenly going soft on illegal immigration?

One of the nation's most prominent hard-line immigration groups seems to think so.

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, which just a few weeks ago led the chorus calling for Dobbs' presidential candidacy, abruptly withdrew its support this week, dumping, for instance, two Web sites encouraging him to take the Presidential plunge. The group attributed its change of heart to the former CNN host's comments during a recent interview with Telemundo, according to Boston.com .

During the interview late last month, Dobbs endorsed an immigration policy that would not only secure the borders, but also "legalize illegal immigrants on certain conditions."

Though at first blush the comment sounds benign, coming from Dobbs it seems to represent a decisive change in tone.

"You sound now like a politician," said the startled host, Maria Celeste, in a reference to how Dobbs has publicly pondered a run for either the New Jersey Senate or President.

Up until now, Dobbs has been an outright firebrand on illegal immigration, earning him the enmity of many Hispanic immigration advocacy groups.

On his radio and CNN shows, he proved unafraid to entertain controversial ideas, such as his claim in 2005 that illegal immigrants are responsible for a recent outbreak of leprosy.

(On his CNN show, he'd said that illegal immigrants had brought 7,000 cases of leprosy to the United States over the past three years. The correct time frame was three decades.)

In March, Dobbs publicly apologized on his CNN show for calling the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce "an organization that is interested in the export of American capital and production to Mexico and Mexico's export of drugs and illegal aliens to the United States."

Although Dobbs' unapologetic stance on illegal immigration won him many enemies over the years, it also lifted his standing in the eyes of immigration hard-liners.

Now, by appearing to appeal to the middle, Dobbs may ironically alienate everyone.

"Mr. Dobbs claims his positions have not changed, however, that is not the perception of many of our mutual supporters," William Gheen of ALIPAC said in a statement. "His recent comments on Telemundo and his national radio show supporting some kind of path to citizenship for illegal immigrants is inconsistent with positions of ALIPAC and the views of most American citizens."