As to Giuliani being Mayor of New York city, where immigration wasn't a big problem, that may be true. But he was speaking out on federal legislation and federal policy, not New York city policy. And he was talking about what he thought was good for America, not for New York. To me, it demonstrates that he had a narrow, short-sighted view of what was happening in the country, relying only on his view from NY. His comments about immigrant school children was equally lacking in knowledge of what was happening across the nation. The days of children of immigrants being the most disciplined and hardworking ended a generation ago, IMO. Schools are ridden with violence and immigrant gangs (and others) and the quality of education for all students is declining due to language diversity. This has been the situation for at least the last decade, not just today. Giuliani's lack of vision and foresight on this issue is disappointing.
"I think we want to continue to allow a lot of poor people to come into America." WHAT?!!?
Well, you may be right.
It's going to be very, very hard to actually do anything about the immigration problem, as we've seen for many years.
I certainly don't disagree that immigration is a growing concern, and threatens the welfare of our country. I'm just not sure whether ANY of the realistic candidates are likely to do anything about it, or whether they could if they wanted to against the political difficulties they would face. It will require a large groundswell, and a lot more states and communities lining up in support, before much is likely to be done on the federal level.
It's encouraging that some towns and cities are passing ordinances against illegal immigrants; but at the same time, other cities and states are passing amnesties and forbidding their police to act. Against that background, you are going to need strong leadership and persuasive power, no matter who is elected.