At the top of the Republican presidential pack, Newt Gingrich is poised for what some call the “Perry Plunge” for supporting part of the pro-immigrant DREAM Act.

Like former frontrunner Rick Perry, Gingrich became a target of criticism among fellow Republicans at Tuesday night’s nationally televised debate for saying that some people should be allowed to stay in the United States even if they’re here illegally.

The former U.S. House Speaker said longtime residents who have raised families here, paid taxes and stayed out of trouble should not face deportation.

“I don’t see how the party that says it’s the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century,” Gingrich said during the CNN debate.

“I’m prepared to take the heat for saying: ‘Let’s be humane in enforcing the law without giving them citizenship but by finding a way to create legality so that they are not separated from their families,’” he said.

Gingrich’s comments were quickly blasted on conservative websites like Free Republic. The outrage with Gingrich underscored the danger of having a soft line on immigration as well as the tenuousness of leading the Republican field.

The furor over immigration also points to a conflict in GOP politics, where hard-line immigration positions help win primaries but run the risk of turning off Hispanic voters, one of the fastest-growing segments of the nation’s population and electorate.

Gingrich’s comments Tuesday were different in style — but nearly identical in substance — to the points made by Perry in previous debates when he defended a bill he signed as Texas governor that gave in-state college tuition breaks to some illegal immigrants.

At the time, the head of Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee, William Gheen, predicted the Texas governor would have a “Perry Plunge” in the polls. It happened, albeit after back-to-back bad debate performances.

Unlike Perry, Gingrich wasn’t booed for his comments. But the head of ALIPAC says Gingrich will pay nonetheless with diminished support.

“Newt Gingrich’s campaign will now take the ’Perry Plunge’ due to his support for Dream Act Amnesty," Gheen said in a written statement. "Newt Gingrich is finished!"

In a telephone interview, Gheen said his group has monitored Gingrich for some time but said little about him because his campaign was going nowhere. Gheen said his group doesn’t oppose immigration, but instead provides a voice for the 70 percent to 80 percent of Americans who, when surveyed, support border restrictions and oppose aid to illegal immigrants.

Gheen also criticized President Obama for his open support for the DREAM Act, which provides a pathway to citizenship for some children of undocumented immigrants. Despite many American voters opposing the act, Gheen said, Obama has maintained a level of popularity because he’s like “this magic black person” in movies — like the actress Whoopi Goldberg in “Ghost” who “knows everything that needs to be known, and fixes everything that needs to be fixed.”

But, Gheen said, Americans are starting to turn on Obama as they examine his policies and the disastrous “Fast and Furious” gun-walking operation that backfired along the Mexico border.