Newt Gingrich shocked his potential TeaParty constituency last week by advocating “legalization” for “illegal immigrants” who for decades have assimilated into our culture.

This was surprising, because such an idea is quickly equated with “amnesty” and is supposed to be the kiss of death for a Republican presidential candidate.

John McCain in 2008 ran from his own effort at comprehensive immigration reform because he could not run on it during the Republican primary.  Mitt Romney has suffered because he allowed, for a time, an undocumented laborer to provide lawn-care.  And Rick Perry defied the conservative faithful because he supported legislation on behalf of undocumented hispanic students.

True to our history, USAmerican nationalism combined with anti-immigrant sentiment is calling for large-scale deportation of over eleven million of Hispanic residents. Ironically, the Obama administration has deported hundreds of thousands of people during that last three years.

Gingrich understands that the Republican party has alienated Hispanic voters in much the same way that it has alienated African-American voters, by negative stereotyping and fear-mongering. He is hoping to garner some of these votes for a general election, as George W. Bush was able to do in the past.

Whether the “right wing” will welcome an opportunity to think beyond its rigid “no amnesty but mass deportation”  stance has yet to be seen.