Posted on 11/23/2007 12:59:57 PM PST by AuntB
McClatchy has a good item today about the odd nature of the fight among Republican presidential hopefuls over immigration — we’re watching candidates who embraced relatively progressive policies attack each other while moving to the hard-right.
[Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney] each ran a jurisdiction that’s arguably among the nation’s most tolerant, where cracking down on illegal immigrants wasn’t good politics.
But now, Giuliani, the mayor of New York from 1994 to 2001, and Romney, the governor of Massachusetts from 2003 through January, are battling for the Republican presidential nomination amid an uproar over illegal immigration. So they’re gritting their teeth, squaring their shoulders and vowing to throw the bums out and keep them out.
The result has been a schoolyard brawl.
And a fairly silly one at that. Giuliani attacks Romney for not taking immigration concerns seriously as governor. He’s right. Romney attacks Giuliani for openly accepting illegal immigrants into New York City. He’s right, too. Both attack John McCain for his support of Bush’s policy. They’re right, too.
We’re dealing with a group of leading candidates going after each other for embracing the same approach that each of them have already embraced.
For Giuliani, that’s particularly problematic.
Contrast all this double talk by Huckabee and some others on immigration with someone who has actually done something about the problem.
For Immediate Release: 6 August 1998
HUNTER ADDS PROVISIONS TO BORDER FUNDING BILL
The House of Representatives approved fiscal year 1999 funding last night for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the U.S. Border Patrol, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R - CA 52) announced. The Commerce, Justice and State Departments Appropriations Act reorganizes the funding of the INS by separating naturalization and processing activities from border enforcement, increases the number of Border Patrol agents and funds construction of new facilities.
Provisions which Congressman Hunter included in the bill are:
* Funding for 1,000 new Border Patrol agents. This is in accordance with Rep. Hunter’s 1996 legislation which authorized 5,000 new Border Patrol agents over five years. The new agents are to be deployed along the Southwest border in the areas of the highest illegal traffic. 140 new Border Patrol support personnel are also funded.
* As a result of the impact of ongoing illegal immigration in the Cleveland National Forest, the legislation directs the Department of Justice to work more closely with the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management in the forest and other federal land areas near the Mexican border to protect natural and human resources and provide increased border protection.
* The bill recommends that the ambulance service pilot project, established last year in Nogales, Arizona, be expanded to Imperial County. Presently, ambulance services are not reimbursable when the victim is an illegal alien.
* Funds construction and renovation projects:
—El Centro Border Patrol Station: $5,603,000
—El Centro Border Patrol Sector Headquarters: $2,842,000
* Planning, site acquisition and design of a new Border Patrol Station in Campo: $424,000
* Construction of a new detention facility in El Centro: $4,193,000
* Planning, site acquisition and design of a new Border Patrol Service Processing Center in El Centro: $500,000
“While construction of the border fence continues,” said Hunter, “we are again increasing the size of the Border Patrol as well as giving them the infrastructure and resources they need to hold the line against illegal immigration and drugs.”
The Senate passed its version of the appropriations bill on July 23, 1998. The House and Senate will meet in early September to develop one bill which will then be sent to the President.
A separate bill, H.R. 4264, to remove the Border Patrol from the INS and establish the Bureau of Enforcement and Border Affairs within the Department of Justice, was approved recently by a House subcommittee. The bill, which Rep. Hunter has cosponsored, should be considered by the full House of Representatives in September.
http://www.house.gov/hunter/news_prior_2006/aug6-98.htm
It takes more than proclaiming one is a Conservative. Duncan Hunter shows his belief of Conservatism by taking action.
ping
“McClatchy has a good item today about the odd nature of the fight among Republican presidential hopefuls over immigration — we’re watching candidates who embraced relatively progressive policies attack each other while moving to the hard-right. “
Yeah, the (R) whores all moved to the right.
Hunter has a PROVEN track record against criminal invaders!
Republicans, meanwhile, have made the political calculation that most Americans want to see a continuation of open borders because it means cheaper goods and a stronger U.S. economy.
This reporter is not getting the pubbie memos.
Bttt!
I call it a purse fight.
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