Rudy’s immigration shift?
Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 12:39 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Republicans
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro
In his continuing shift right,
Giuliani is up today with a 60-second, hard-line immigration
radio ad in Iowa and New Hampshire called “Fence.” In the ad, he says illegal immigration “frustrates” him and he drew on his experience as mayor of New York -- again. He criticizes the U.S. Immigration Service, who he says he tried to work with as mayor of New York.
“It makes no sense,” Giuliani says of the immigration service’s deportation priorities. “After they have been in jail for selling drugs in the United States -- we now have to keep them in the United States. They [the immigration service] couldn’t do it [deport them], because they had other people lined up to throw out. They had like a professor who over-stayed his visa. I had a drug dealer who had maybe killed people.”
Last week, Romney accused Giuliani of having run a “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants as mayor of New York. This week, the New York newspapers challenged Giuliani’s hard-line immigration credibility. Today, the New York Post wrote, “Critics said Giuliani's get-tough plan contrasts with his actions as mayor, when he actually filed a lawsuit to protect the identity of illegal aliens receiving city services.” Yesterday, the New York Daily News said as mayor Giuliani was “considered one of the most immigrant-friendly government executives in the nation -- in both word and deed.”
The Daily News pulled a quote from Giuliani who said in 1994, “’Some of the hardest-working and most productive people in this city are undocumented aliens. If you come here, and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you're one of the people who we want in this city."
Here’s the full transcript:
“Fence” (Radio 60 seconds):
NARRATOR: “Here’s Rudy Giuliani”
GIULIANI: “It frustrates me that if someone comes here illegally, in addition to everything else that’s involved in that, if they commit a crime, we don’t throw them out of the country. As the mayor of New York I wanted to see if I could get the Immigration Service to help me. Let’s see if you could get rid of the drug dealers who are coming out of jail. It makes no sense -- after they have been in jail for selling drugs in the United States -- we now have to keep them in the United States. They couldn’t do it because they had other people lined up to throw out. They had like a professor who over-stayed his visa. I had a drug dealer who had maybe killed people. A person who comes here illegally and commits a crime should be thrown out of the country. People that come in illegally we gotta stop. You stop illegal immigration by building a fence, a physical fence and then a technological fence. You then hire enough Border Patrol so they can respond in a timely way. And then, if anybody becomes a citizen, we should make certain that they can read English, write English and speak English, because this is an English speaking country.”
NARRATOR: “Paid for by Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee Incorporated. Visit joinrudy2008.com.”
GIULIANI: “I’m Rudy Giuliani and I approve this message.”
