CEDAR FALLS -Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and a potential presidential candidate, restated his beliefs Friday that secure borders will be the main step to solving problems with illegal immigration.

Huckabee tried to shore up his credibility on the issue, which ranks at the top of Republican voters' concerns, while speaking to a crowd at an Iowa Christian Alliance fundraiser. He expressed some frustration about Congress' lack of action on the issue, and said there needed to be a "common sense approach" to the issue.

That approach includes a physical fence in areas where it is needed and electronic monitoring in other areas, he said.

"It's absurd that we can more easily skip across this border than I can get on an airplane in Little Rock, Ark. and fly to Des Moines," Huckabee said.

While he said he is opposed to any plans for amnesty, he would like to see a path toward citizenship for people in the country.

"I just don't think it's realistic to say this weekend we're going to round up 12 to 20 million young people and their children and we're going to put them across the border and they're never going to come back," he said in an interview with the Courier Friday. "If we don't secure the border, that ain't going to happen anyway."

Another approach is to make the process to get into the country more secure and clearly streamlined. He said if that process were sped up, then it would be less appealing for people to come across the border illegally.

Those people coming across legally would have to show legal documentation, prove they don't have a communicable disease or criminal background and provide some reason for why they're coming across.

Huckabee has been criticized for his statements on the issue in the past, including whether children of illegal immigrants should be allowed access to government services or driver's licenses. But he said those problems could be cleared up if the borders are secured and people are given proper documentation to come into the country.

Lynn Proudfoot, an Iowa Christian Alliance board member, said he was pleased to see Huckabee was "firming up" on immigration. That was one key area of Huckabee's views that Republicans had questions about, he said.

"We wanted to make sure that he was going to be strong on the immigration issue," Proudfoot said. "I think he answered the questions pretty well."

Proudfoot said Christian conservatives are looking favorably at Huckabee in part because of his background as a Baptist minister and what they see as a history of being a solidly conservative politician.

Those views were echoed by others in attendance.

Tim Boetteger, of Cedar Falls, said he plans on supporting Huckabee in the January precinct caucuses. This was the second time Boetteger heard Huckabee speak.

"The main thing I like about him is that he had his convictions before he was in politics and he hasn't wavered off of that and I think he'll carry them forward," he said.

Contact Josh Nelson at (319) 291-1565 or josh.nelson@wcfcourier.com.