He's born again
>Secure our broken borders. Restore rule of law.
Rudy Giuliani • December 1, 2007
DesMoinesRegister.com
America's borders are broken. I am the candidate who can fix the problem because I am the candidate who has tackled problems considered unmanageable or impossible to accomplish.
Washington's failure to secure America's borders can be felt throughout our nation. Even Iowa, nearly a thousand miles from our border with Mexico, has felt the impact. Estimates of the illegal immigrant population in Iowa place it between 55,000 and 85,000. As somebody who, as mayor of New York City, had to deal with the consequences of the federal government's failure to stop illegal immigration to our country, I know the tremendous burden this places on Iowa.
That's one of the reasons I'm running for president. I believe the federal government must do a better job of performing its essential responsibilities.
It must keep us on offense in the Terrorists' War on Us.
It must keep the economy strong by keeping taxes low and spending restrained.
And it must protect the sovereignty of our nation by bringing order to our borders.
I am running for president because I believe we can accomplish those goals.
One of my 12 Commitments to the American People is to end illegal immigration, secure our borders and identify every non-citizen in our nation. America's proud tradition of legal immigration is being undermined by our government's inability to solve the problem of illegal immigration. We must end illegal immigration - and protect and expand legal immigration.
Ending illegal immigration begins with securing the border. We need to build both a physical and a high-tech fence to monitor and control border crossings. We need a fully staffed 20,000-agent Border Patrol with continued logistical support from the National Guard. And to increase their effectiveness, we will institute BorderStat - a data-driven system of intelligence gathering that will monitor the border and give agents real-time information to put resources in the right place at the right time.
We also need a swipeable, tamper-proof biometric ID for all foreign workers and foreign students in our nation. The Secure, Authorized, Foreign Entry Card, SAFE card, will enable us to create a national database of all non-citizens in our nation. The SAFE card will also help us track when people enter and exit our nation. More than 40 percent of the estimated 12 million illegal aliens in our country overstayed their visas.
We must have a zero-tolerance policy for non-citizen criminals. When I became mayor, we had 400,000 illegal immigrants in New York City. Immigration officials said they could deport only a few thousand a year. And when I wanted to fast-track the deportation of drug dealers and other criminals in city jails, I was told they would have to wait behind a busboy or a college professor who'd over-stayed their visas. It made no sense.
Currently, we deport only about 14 percent of the roughly 300,000 deportable non-citizen criminals in our prisons. That will change: If you come to our country and commit a crime, you will be prosecuted. You will serve your sentence. And then you will be met at the prison gate with a one-way ticket out of our country.
Finally, we need to reconnect immigration with Americanization. Immigrants to our country must learn to read, write and speak English and learn the basics of civics and U.S. history. We need a common currency of communication for the American experiment to work.
These are difficult challenges, but they are not impossible. Leaders must be held accountable for achieving results, and I am ready to be held accountable for restoring the rule of law to our immigration system. I'm the candidate best prepared to accomplish this because I'm the candidate who has accomplished goals of this magnitude before.
RUDY GIULIANI, former mayor of New York City, is seeking the Republican nomination for president.
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In your voice: Read reactions to this story:
scoop39 wrote:
I don't know if Northwest Iowa has a different set of laws than the rest of the state, but every other week or so I read of an Hispanic being convicted of identity theft for altering or forging a government document, i.e. Social Security Card. In fact, in this week's NW Iowa Review there were two reports of this criminal being apprehended or convicted. Upon conviction this crime carries a max penalty of five years in prison and a $7,500 fine as well as that one way ticket home when the sentence is complete. Why isn't this law, which is already on the books, enforced in the rest of the state?
jerrycedarf wrote:
sorry, but i don't think any candidate will do a damn thing about the southern border.lots of talk, but still no fence or stepped up border enforcement.
Local1 wrote:
He's right about the fence and border patrol, look what the 19 miles of fence did for San Diego; Dr Kline, the fence worked in Israel, too, or don't you remember all the suicide bombings before it was built? The current administration is about to give Mexico 1.5 BILLION $ to help them deal w/the drug cartels along the border & until our elected idiots do the same for THIS side of the border I don't believe any of the Pres wannabes except Hunter & Tancredo. We already have 6 or 7 guest worker pgms & don't need another to accomodate the Hispanics. Still waiting for SOMEONE to tell us that anyone using a phony ID, especially an American citizens' ID, will be deported immdeiatley & have no chance at citizenship.
jhains2 wrote:
Iowans: I am a native of New York City still working in Manhattan though I live in NJ. Rudy doesn't expect a border fence to eliminate illegal crossings, but he does expect it to reduce them dramatically. When Giuliani came into office Times Square was filled with porno theaters, hookers, drug dealers and was not a safe place to go. Ask one of your neighbors that visited recently what it is like now: filled with tourists enjoying the greatest turnaround in history. Here's what you'll get with Giuliani, who I think is the man for the job: As mayor, he had Yassir Arafat ejected from Lincoln Center when they happened to be there together for a show, a guy who cut taxes and controlled spending; a guy who will insist on the enforcement of our laws--all of them. He will sometimes seem abrasive, but that's who he is. Most importantly, he's a guy who says what he thinks and believes what he says. He won;t be swayed by political expediency like most pols. You're not going to get any BS.
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