What 18 Presidential Candidates Have Said (and done) on Immigration Issues
Eight or nine Republican presidential candidates in the recent New Hampshire debate covered by CNN took a strong stand in criticizing the immigration bill before the Senate. The bill would immediately legalize about 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens.
It appears that all the Democrats would be for the bill. Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have already cast votes for it.
Some of the Republicans that looked so opposed to the bill in the debate have not governed like they sounded, Rudy Giuliani, for example. Here is a link that gives details on what the eighteen Presidential candidates have said and done on the issue. This link reveals far more than was or could be revealed in the debate. We would highly recommend that anyone interested in this issue read this information.
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/washington/IMMIGRATIONPOSITIONS.html
Republicans Tackle Immigration in New Hampshire Debate
Also following are transcribed quotes from the Republican Debate we found on the web. All the quotes are not included, but a good portion of them are.
McCain is cosponsor of the immigration bill now being debated in the Senate, but the other nine had little if anything positive to say about it. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), Arizona: For us to do nothing is silent and de facto amnesty.
FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R), Massachusetts: This bill, unfortunately, has at least one provision that's a real problem. It's the Z visa. And what it allows is people who've come here illegally to stay here for the rest of their lives, not necessarily as citizens. They have to wait 13 years to become citizens.
That's not the point. The point is, every illegal alien, almost every one, under this bill gets to stay here. That's not fair to the millions and millions of people around the world that would love to come here.
REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), California: And let me tell you, this is a disastrous bill. And if John McCain is right in saying that this is a national security issue -- and it is, border enforcement -- then the Hunter bill, which was signed by the president on the 26th of October, mandating 854 miles of double fence -- it's been six months, and they've done 11 miles.
So this administration has a case of the slows. And I think they slowed the fence down so that they could come out with the amnesty at the same time, put the two together, and the Bush-McCain-Kennedy bill would then be accepted by conservatives and liberals alike.
FORMER GOV. TOMMY THOMPSON (R), Wisconsin: Unless you secure the border, it is not right to give 12 million individuals who have illegal rights into this country status before that border is protected. There should be no amnesty. And this bill, no matter how you cover it, is an amnesty bill. And the people in this country do not believe in that bill, and they believe very much that the best hope for us is to have a secure border.
REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), Colorado: What we're doing here in this immigration battle is testing our willingness to actually hold together as a nation or split apart into a lot of Balkanized pieces. We are testing our willingness to actually hold onto something called the English language, something that is the glue that is supposed to hold us together as a nation. We are becoming a bilingual nation, and that is not good.
RUDY GIULIANI (R), Former Mayor of New York: The problem with this immigration plan is it has no real unifying purpose. It's a typical Washington mess. Everybody compromises, four or five compromises, and the compromises leave you with the following conclusion. The litmus test you should have for legislation is, is it going to make things better? And when you look at these compromises, it is quite possible it will make things worse.
The organizing purpose should be that our immigration laws should allow us to identify everyone who is in this country that comes here from a foreign country. They should have a tamper-proof I.D. card. It should be in a database that allows you to figure out who they are, why they're here, make sure they're not illegal immigrants coming here for a bad purpose, and then to be able to throw out the ones who are not in that database.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Rudy, you just described our legislation, so I'd be glad to have further conversation with you, because it does account for people who are here illegally, it does have an employment verification system, and it weeds out those who shouldn't be here, and it gives others a chance to remain in this country.
Someone contacted us and wanted us to add this quote by Presidential Candidate Ron Paul:
Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas): The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our own front door is left unlocked. We must do whatever it takes to control entry into our country before we undertake complicated immigration reform proposals.
It appears that all the Democrats would be for the bill. Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have already cast votes for it.
Some of the Republicans that looked so opposed to the bill in the debate have not governed like they sounded, Rudy Giuliani, for example. Here is a link that gives details on what the eighteen Presidential candidates have said and done on the issue. This link reveals far more than was or could be revealed in the debate. We would highly recommend that anyone interested in this issue read this information.
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/washington/IMMIGRATIONPOSITIONS.html
Republicans Tackle Immigration in New Hampshire Debate
Also following are transcribed quotes from the Republican Debate we found on the web. All the quotes are not included, but a good portion of them are.
McCain is cosponsor of the immigration bill now being debated in the Senate, but the other nine had little if anything positive to say about it. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), Arizona: For us to do nothing is silent and de facto amnesty.
FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R), Massachusetts: This bill, unfortunately, has at least one provision that's a real problem. It's the Z visa. And what it allows is people who've come here illegally to stay here for the rest of their lives, not necessarily as citizens. They have to wait 13 years to become citizens.
That's not the point. The point is, every illegal alien, almost every one, under this bill gets to stay here. That's not fair to the millions and millions of people around the world that would love to come here.
REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), California: And let me tell you, this is a disastrous bill. And if John McCain is right in saying that this is a national security issue -- and it is, border enforcement -- then the Hunter bill, which was signed by the president on the 26th of October, mandating 854 miles of double fence -- it's been six months, and they've done 11 miles.
So this administration has a case of the slows. And I think they slowed the fence down so that they could come out with the amnesty at the same time, put the two together, and the Bush-McCain-Kennedy bill would then be accepted by conservatives and liberals alike.
FORMER GOV. TOMMY THOMPSON (R), Wisconsin: Unless you secure the border, it is not right to give 12 million individuals who have illegal rights into this country status before that border is protected. There should be no amnesty. And this bill, no matter how you cover it, is an amnesty bill. And the people in this country do not believe in that bill, and they believe very much that the best hope for us is to have a secure border.
REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), Colorado: What we're doing here in this immigration battle is testing our willingness to actually hold together as a nation or split apart into a lot of Balkanized pieces. We are testing our willingness to actually hold onto something called the English language, something that is the glue that is supposed to hold us together as a nation. We are becoming a bilingual nation, and that is not good.
RUDY GIULIANI (R), Former Mayor of New York: The problem with this immigration plan is it has no real unifying purpose. It's a typical Washington mess. Everybody compromises, four or five compromises, and the compromises leave you with the following conclusion. The litmus test you should have for legislation is, is it going to make things better? And when you look at these compromises, it is quite possible it will make things worse.
The organizing purpose should be that our immigration laws should allow us to identify everyone who is in this country that comes here from a foreign country. They should have a tamper-proof I.D. card. It should be in a database that allows you to figure out who they are, why they're here, make sure they're not illegal immigrants coming here for a bad purpose, and then to be able to throw out the ones who are not in that database.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Rudy, you just described our legislation, so I'd be glad to have further conversation with you, because it does account for people who are here illegally, it does have an employment verification system, and it weeds out those who shouldn't be here, and it gives others a chance to remain in this country.
Someone contacted us and wanted us to add this quote by Presidential Candidate Ron Paul:
Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas): The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our own front door is left unlocked. We must do whatever it takes to control entry into our country before we undertake complicated immigration reform proposals.
posted by Debbie Pelley at Tuesday, June 12, 2007
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