Giuliani - Weak on Illegal Immigration

Rudy: Illegal immigration not a crime
AP via Yahoo! News ^ | 09/07/2007 | By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said illegal immigration is not a crime, prompting rival Mitt Romney to accuse him of not taking the problem seriously.

The two have clashed for weeks over illegal immigration, an issue that inflames GOP conservatives who influence primary elections. The irony is that both candidates have in the past taken more liberal stands on the issue.

"It's not a crime," Giuliani said Friday. "I know that's very hard for people to understand, but it's not a federal crime."

Giuliani's comments came in an interview with CNN Headline News and radio talk-show host Glenn Beck.

"I was U.S. attorney in the Southern district of New York," he said. "So believe me, I know this. In fact, when you throw an immigrant out of the country, it's not a criminal proceeding. It's a civil proceeding."

Illegal immigration shouldn't be a crime, either, Giuliani said: "No, it shouldn't be because the government wouldn't be able to prosecute it. We couldn't prosecute 12 million people. We have only 2 million people in jail right now for all the crimes that are committed in the country, 2.5 million."


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Conservative Bloggers Comments:
Rudy Giuliani has stated his position on illegal immigration and I find it lacking. Any talk of illegal immigration that gives a pass to the illegals that are currently in the country is just plain wrong. We need to close the border and ship out those that have ignored our laws and come here illegally. We need to change the laws that allow illegals to use emergency health care facilities as their own insurance plan. Further, we need to change the laws that allow illegals to come here, plop down a child and *bingo* you have an American citizen. This type of behavior is not in the spirit of the law. Someone here illegally should not have any rights other than the right to be detained and sent back to where they came from. I am for LEGAL immigration. We are a country of immigrants. But it needs to be done legally and through the proper channels. We can do a better job of allowing immigrants into the country but we have to have enforcement or it is all meaningless.