Rudy Giuliani: Giuliani vs. Giuliani on Immigration

October 1, 2007 -- Washington, DC - While Rudy Giuliani promises to be tough on immigration, his record as Mayor of New York City shows a different picture, and raises questions about the Republican candidate's swing to the far right on the issue. A day after accepting the endorsement of former California Governor Pete Wilson, best known for promoting the divisive Proposition 187 targeting immigrants, Rudy Giuliani continues to run away from his record on immigration while he campaigns in Los Angeles today.

That record shows that as mayor, Rudy Giuliani told New Yorkers in no uncertain terms, "we want to protect" undocumented workers, and "pushed policies" that favored undocumented immigrants. Giuliani even filed a lawsuit against the federal government to block efforts that would have required the city to turn in illegal immigrants who sought city services. At the time Giuliani justified his support noting, "the reality is that they are here, and they're going to remain here." [The New York Times, 4/22/07; The New York Times, 10/12/96;]

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Now, scrapping for votes from conservatives angry about illegal immigration, Giuliani is distorting his record, and going so far as to promise to end illegal immigration while including border security as one of his twelve campaign commitments. [AP 8/14/07] But Giuliani has come under attack even from his own party chairman. Republican National Committee Chairman Mel Martinez, a Florida Senator, took "a swipe" at Giuliani and fellow GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney "for not offering solid solutions to America's immigration crisis." Martinez went so far as to allude to both Romney and Giuliani when he "urged" an audience "to pin down the Republican candidates on immigration when they" came to his home state. [St. Petersburg Times, 8/15/07]

"Rudy Giuliani seems to think that accepting Pete Wilson's endorsement can help him cement his new position on immigration and cover up the fact it contradicts his record as New York City Mayor," said DNC spokesman Luis Miranda. "What it actually does is put the spotlight on Giuliani's inconsistencies and make it clear to voters that they just can't trust him to level with them about his own record on the issues."
RUDY'S NEW YORK STORY

To Undocumented Workers: "We Want" You. Giuliani said, if "you happen to be in an undocumented status, you're one of the people who we want in this city. You're somebody that we want to protect." [The New York Times, 6/10/94]

City Policy Banned Police, Others From Reporting Immigration Status. "Giuliani filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government yesterday, challenging provisions of the new welfare and immigration laws that allow city employees to turn in illegal immigrants who seek services like police protection, hospital care and public education. The Mayor called the provisions unconstitutional and said they would overturn a New York City executive order in effect since 1985 that forbids city employees to report illegal immigrants." [The New York Times, 10/12/96]

We Don't Need A Law. Giuliani said, "you can end illegal immigration without anymore legislation." [Hugh Hewitt Show, 6/12/07, http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/talkradio/transcripts/
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Encourage People "Not To" Turn In Names. "We can remind people that no one is required to turn in the names of illegal aliens, and we can encourage people not to do that." [The New York Times, 7/19/97]

We Can't End Illegal Immigration; It Would Destroy The Economy. "Speaking at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 1996, Giuliani said, 'We're never ever going to be able to totally control immigration to a country that is as large as ours. If you were to totally control immigration into the United States...you might very well destroy the economy of the United States because you'd have to inspect everything and everyone in every way possible.[the] prepared text of the speech -- still on Giuliani's mayoral re-election website from 1997 -- has Giuliani saying that he can't defend illegal immigration, but largely focusing on the benefits that come with newcomers to the nation." [Martin's Blog, Politico.com, 8/16/07]
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE RUDY TALKING IN CIRCLES

Giuliani Is Unclear On Path To Citizenship For Illegal Immigrants. On June 13th, Giuliani said that he would ask illegal immigrants in the United States to "come forward" and "sign up" and thus was asked, "You'd give them a path to citizenship?" Giuliani replied, "No. Didn't say that yet. The people that are working, if they stay here, if they work, if they were productive, at some point, if you wanted to make them citizens, you'd have them earn it by paying penalties, and you'd have them demonstrate they can read, write and speak English." ["Money and Politics," CNBC, 6/13/07]

Rudy Says "Least Amount of Illegality," Stats Show Otherwise. Statistics show that Giuliani's recent claim that New York City "had the least amount of illegality per capita of any major city in the country and I brought that change about," is flat wrong. Records show that the number of undocumented immigrants in the city actually grew during Giuliani's tenure. In 1996 Giuliani himself had noted that "New York City.has 400,000 undocumented immigrants." But the Pew Hispanic Center estimated that there were 525,000 illegal immigrants in New York City by 2005. [AP 8/14/07; Giuliani, 9/30/96; http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/rwg/html/96/immig.html ; The New York Sun, 12/6/05]

Flip Flopped On English As The Official Language. This year, Giuliani has "signaled his support for making English the nation's official language" yet in 1996, he opposed English as an official language, saying "there's no reason to pass a bill like this except, maybe, to exclude people, insult people or offend people." [Newsday (New York), 6/6/07; The New York Times, 8/14/96]

Huge Shift in Tone, Policy. "In contrast to his years as mayor, when he fought federal efforts to curtail public hospital or educational services to illegal immigrants, he now talks of penalties for people here illegally and requirements for them to wait at the back of the line. And while he once pushed policies like providing schooling for the children of illegal immigrants by saying, 'The reality is that they are here, and they're going to remain here,' now he emphasizes denying amnesty." [The New York Times, 4/22/07]

Source: DNC