Fred Thompson Hitting Rudy Giuliani With A Club On Illegal Immigration Record

Senator Fred Thompson has begun clubbing Rudy Giuliani over his illegal immigration record. Thompson's website has featured comments from both Rudy Giuliani and others making public statements about Giuliani's past illegal immigration record.

Thompson’s website has a series of damaging quotes from Giuliani and others regarding Giuliani, included this quote from Giuliani accusing the former mayor of teaming up with Moveon.org supporter George Soros to oppose ‘anti immigration forces’:

"Today I am also announcing that my office will be working with a coalition of well-known individuals and organizations who oppose the anti-immigration forces now being seen in Washington and elsewhere. Among the members of this coalition will be...George Soros..." (Rudy Giuliani, Remarks to the Kennedy School of Government, 10/10/96)

At that time Republican Pat Buchanan was campaigning for president against illegal immigration and in support of protecting U.S. borders from future terrorist attacks.

The Republican Party leadership opposed Buchanan’s platform on issues like immigration and rallied behind Senator Bob Dole for the nomination.

Thompson’s website also states that Giuliani reissued Executive Order 124, keeping New York City a 'sanctuary city' and forbidding city employees from reporting illegal immigrants seeking public services. It features this quote from a reporter in 1995:

"Mayor Rudolf (sic) Giuliani, on the other hand, reiterated his commitment to Executive Order 124 of 1989, the edict that prohibits city government officials and employees from snitching on the status of aliens, unless they're involved in criminal activity." (Filipino Reporter, 4/13/95)

Thompson’s website also claims that Rudy Giuliani not only allowed New York to become a 'sanctuary city,' it alsoi claims that Giuliani all but recruited illegal immigrants to the city. The website features this quote from the NY Times:

"If you come here and you work hard and 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." (New York Times, 6/10/94)

Thompson’s website also claims that then Mayor Giuliani filed a lawsuit to block a federal law that would have required city officials to report illegal immigrants to federal immigration authorities. Another quote from the NY Times:

"...Giuliani today announced that the New York City Corporation Counsel has filed a law suit against the federal government challenging two provisions of the recently enacted Federal Welfare and Immigration laws. ... 'I believe the anti-immigration movement in America is one of our most serious public problems,' Mayor Giuliani said. 'And Washington is only making the problem worse." (New York Times, 10/11/96)

Thompson’s own proposals seem to echo Tom Tancredo’s, calling for an end to federal funds and grants to ‘Sanctuary Cities’. Thompson wants to cut off funds to ‘Sanctuary Cities’ and to Universities offering in state tuition to illegal aliens. .

Thompson also wants to double immigration and Customs Enforcement agents handling interior enforcement. He wants at least 25,000 border patrol agents and go after employers that high illegal aliens.

Fred Thompson’s own proposal on immigration seems to call for increased legal immigration. He calls for streamlining the process and reduce backlogs into the country. He wants to simplify and expedite the application processes for temporary visas.

As published on his website it isn’t actually clear whether he’s calling for a streamlined process or increasing immigration as well.

Recently on U.S. television former Mexican President Vincente Fox called for massive immigration into the U.S. to forward the eventual goal of creating a North American Union.

Fred Thompson was asked about the North American Union over the summer and claimed to not know about it.

In other words, do you think if Rudy takes FL, then he is the nominee?

Not necessarily. While I think it certainly makes it easier for Rudy if he carries Florida, there are a lot more delegates to gain in a lot of states where Giuliani's positions on red meat issues are very unpopular. It's true that Florida alone would give him the lead in delegates going into Super Tuesday, even if one other candidate wins every other early primary. The main benefit winning Florida would give him, however, is both momentum and the prestige of winning such an important general election state. This holds true even if the RNC follows through on its threat to strip the pre Feb. 5 primary states of half their delegates.

That said, if Rudy wins Florida but another candidate wins Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Rudy's momentum would be seriously blunted, and Super Tuesday could be in doubt. This could happen in the ironic but very plausible scenario where Mitt Romney's campaign collapses due to, of all things, money problems.

It hasn't been widely reported, but Romney's campaign was nearly $9 million in debt as of the end of Q3, and it is suffering from significant internal turmoil. If this interferes with his ability to campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire, it could cost him both states, assuming he isn't forced to withdraw outright. In that case, it would likely be a race between Thompson and Huckabee for Iowa and Thompson and Giuliani for New Hampshire.

I also like Fred's chances in Florida. Gun owners comprise one of the most important voter constituencies in Florida, and perhaps the most important in the Republican primary. Fred's best bet to take Florida is to speak directly to these voters and highlight the differences between his and Giuliani's records on upholding the right to keep and bear arms.

Also, if Romney's campaign does indeed collapse, Thompson's position both in Florida and on Super Tuesday will be greatly strengthened. One other thing to consider; while Giuliani leads in a lot of polls in a lot of states, I have yet to see any poll, state or national, where Giuliani enjoys the support of a majority of likely Republican voters. His highest numbers have been in the low 40s, and in many states he is "leading" with less than a third of the vote. As the field of candidates thins, the opportunity exists for a candidate to surpass Giuliani without taking any of his votes.

As long as a majority of Republicans are supporting someone other than Rudy, I'd be very hesitant to pencil him in as the presumptive nominee.

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