Giuliani speaks out about Immigration [Harvard Kennedy School of Government 1996]

Rudy Giuliani speaks at Harvard at the Kennedy School of Government on immigration and the 1996 Welfare Reform Act on October 10, 1996.

I don't think immigration, over the last 30 to 40 years, has been a terrible problem for America, as I tried to point out. I think immigration has worked pretty well. I think it has areas of problems. I think the federal government isn't doing enough about illegal immigration--focusing on the right people, the people that are committing crime. But by and large, I don't think the immigration system needs tremendous reforms.

And finally, I don't subscribe to this sort of macro notion that America is too crowded, that we have too many people, that there aren't enough jobs. I don't think America has enough people. I think the challenge of new people will create more jobs. I think it will create more opportunity, I think - uh - you have people - Before, when we were talking at dinner, there was the notion that we should have criteria--that maybe like the investment criteria--where by and large we should focus on the amount of resources somebody has or - .

I think it's been very good for America that we have let a lot of poor people come into America. I think we want to continue to allow a lot of poor people to come into America. Because, when they do, they really ignite things that maybe a lot of rich people can't do. They have a tremendous desire for success. They have a tremendous desire to kind of push themselves and their family up the economic ladder. They put a tremendous amount of emphasis on making their children understand the value of learning, and school, and being disciplined in school, in order to learn, in order to be successful. These are things that we need to remind ourselves of, and you forget them when we become comfortable, not everybody--but some people--forget them when they become more comfortable. And that is part of the human competition that has been a unique thing in the United States.

When I think about Boston, I think of all of that tremendous immigration in the 19th - 20th century - in the 19th and 20th century, basically of very, very poor people. The people selected weren't the few wealthy or educated people in Ireland or Italy or Greece. They were the poorest people who had to leave because they didn't have any food. And when they came here they came here with this tremendous, unbelievable desire to succeed. Not all of them did, but they created a spirit that was tremendous.

That same thing now goes on in Africa, it goes on in South America, it goes on in Asia, it continues to go on in Europe. And of course we need people who can do specific things, who have great talent, that have a lot of money and it's terrific to have more people invest. But if you ask me to make a choice, I would rather see us--and I know this will probably be totally misunderstood--but I would rather have a lot of poor people come into this country knowing why they are coming here.

I have seen that article many times, but the former comments stand.

You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. It was amnesty in 1986 and it is amnesty now as proposed by McCain, Kennedy, et. al.

the bottom line, over 14 million have entered the U.S. in recent years and they are killing off the country. Just spend one day in San Diego.

We don't know how many have entered the country illegally. And yes, we are sowing the seeds of our own destruction. I don't have to go to San Diego to see it, although I once lived there. I can see it every day in the Washington DC metro area.

In addition to stopping illegal immigration, we need to reform our legal immigration policies, which Kennedy got implemented in 1965. Due to chain migration, the number of legal immigrants continues to rise [except for those categories with caps] and we are losing the diversity in terms of where the legal immigrants come from. Today, about 43% of the legal immigrants come from Mexico. We need an immigration policy that brings in the kinds of skills and numbers that will benefit the country in both the short and long term.

The Hispanic Challenge By Samuel P. Huntington

The debate here ISN'T about "immigrants" or "immigration".

Due to the facility with which the mainstream media and politicians refer to both legal immigrants and the invading Goths from south of the Mexican border by the term "immigrant" its not clear to the superficial reader exactly what Giuliani means here.

But his RECORD speaks for itself. Giuliani is talking not about "immigrants" but illegal invaders. When Mayor of New York, he clearly and deliberately REFUSED to cooperate with Federal authorities in the enforcement of
immigration laws against these illegal invaders.

Yesterday, on the Sean Hannity radio show, Sean asked Rudy about guns, abortion and homosexuals. Hannity, whose unqualified admiration for the ex-mayor is becoming wearisome, didn't say a word about the issue of illegal invaders. Rudy gave rather adroit statements about believing in the Second Amendment and supporting the right of individuals to keep and bear arms and also about "reasonable" laws governing them; he said he supported civil unions but opposed gay marriages; he stated he was personally opposed to abortion but supported restrictions on it. These statements were clearly meant to comfort those Americans who are concerned with those issues.

The Second Amendment is an integral part of the Constitution, and is a basic human right given by God to man - the right of self defense. Rights granted by God to man cannot be abridged by the State. While subject to certain reasonable laws, these do NOT include national gun registration or a national test for their ownership - both of which Mr. Giuliani supported in the past. Nor does the Second Amendment permit witch hunts against legal gun manufacturers to please vocal minorities who intrinsically hate firearms - witch hunts Mr. Giuliani has participated in.

Civil unions as opposed to gay marriages is like Clinton defining what "is" is. Most Americans believe in personal freedom, and do not support the government prying into the personal sex lives of individuals. On the other hand, civil unions or gay marriages are merely another "in-your-face action by radical homosexuals who seek public endorsement of their unnatural lifestyle. These are the same kind of actions which are trying to make young children accept homosexuality as an acceptable alternative life style in classroom lessons and books.

Abortion is like slavery. You can't be merely in favor of restricting it and hope it will go away gradually. You either support or reject it. Roe versus Wade is bad Constitutional law. There is nothing in the Constitution which supports abortion. Its also bad morality. We are reaping the fruits of abortion by the need to import masses of non-Americans for jobs for which native born or legally naturalized Americans do not exist - allegedly. And as there is a God in heaven, the blood of slain innocents cries out to Him for justice and He is not deaf.

So, Mr. Giuliani has a long way to go to present an apotheosis from northeastern urban liberal to a moderate-conservative - the kind of person who deserves to be the Republican standard bearer and future President.

Perhaps his recent ambivalence on these subjects represents some first steps in that direction - or perhaps not.

When I think about Boston, I think of all of that tremendous immigration in the 19th - 20th century - in the 19th and 20th century. . . .

So do I.

As I recall a little bit of history poor Italian immigrants came here in huge numbers and did jobs "that Americans won't do." Nevertheless, when those jobs started disappearing many of the immigrants -- and they truly were immigrants in the sense that they had to clear health checks and immigration reviews -- they either went home or moved on to other opportunities in this hemisphere. Why is that, Mr. Giuliana so bad today? In fact, the steam ship traffic going back to Italy exceeded the traffic coming here if I remember correctly. There was no deportation, it was the invisible hand.

Why must ILLEGAL aliens be coddled? Mr. Giuliana, tear off those welfare shackles that bind the invisible hand.

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