From Chicago: Giuliani on Immigration, Osama and Mayor Daley
Jeff Berkowitz: Mayor, would you take out Osama Bin Laden if you were told you had twenty minutes to take him out?
*************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Are the border control provisions sufficient...
*************************************************************
Border control and a Borders book store intersected yesterday when Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Republican Presidential Candidate, was in Chicago to pick up some money from a funder at Gibson’s Steak House, with a chat and meet prior to that at Ron and Christina Gidwitz’s home. Before those events, Presidential candidate Giuliani met with a gathering of lawyers and before that, he met with the media at Borders book store in the Chicago Loop. Mayor Giuliani shopped for some CDs after the availability and mentioned at that time that he had missed the Sopranos on Sunday night, but he didn’t want anyone to tell him what happened, as he had Tivoed it.
Including other matters, Mayor Giuliani spoke about some of the problems he had with the proposed Immigration bill. Although the schism [See here] on this matter might be greater between Romney and McCain, who supports the bill, Giuliani is pretty critical, as well, as indicated below. Presumably, these disagreements will be flushed out further in tonight’s Republican Presidential Candidate debate in New Hampshire [sponsored by and airing on CNN, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm (CST)]. For a well written, comprehensive criticism of the immigration bill, see here.
To watch Presidential Candidates Giuliani, Obama, McCain and Cox, as well as many other pols, go to www.PublicAffairsTv.com
**********************************************************
Mike Parker [CBS 2 News]: Senator Obama and Governor Richardson were both in town today and they were talking about the Immigration bill. I know you are not exactly thrilled with it. You called it a hodge podge. Could you expand a little bit?
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani: The problem with it—it has no unifying purpose. The purpose of the immigration bill should be for us to be able to know all of the people in the United States who come from a foreign country. There should be a data base, a unified data base and there should be a tamper proof, single ID card that has biometric data as part of it--that would make it tamper proof. The law that they are dealing with is so much of a—kind of like the worst thing that Washington does now-a-days. In the name of trying to do something, they put things together and they don’t focus on whether they are going to make things worse or better. And, the reality is this would make things even more confusing. There would be multiple methods of identification. There would be no unified data base. There is no method that is provided for, as funded, for exit information. So, you would not know everybody who came into the country, but a lot of people who came into the country, but you wouldn’t know who left, which means you wouldn’t know who was here. And the reality is that we need—and it is very simple but it is hard to do—and Washington has to become disciplined, which it is not-- we’ve got to have a system in which you know everyone who is in the United States from a foreign country. That data base should contain it. Credit card companies track considerably more information than that. It is not too much to ask that Washington provide us with an immigration bill that gives us security.
Mike Parker [CBS 2 News]: What about the Wall? Good idea?
Mayor Rudy Giuliani: If it is part of a method of identifying people coming into the country, it’s a good idea. Physical wall. Technological wall. Increased border control. That’s a good idea. People who are working here-- coming forward, identifying themselves, getting background checks-- all of it could be a good idea if it was attached to the ability of the United States to know everybody who was in this country and a unified data base that would allow you to identify the people who were here. Not attached to that, it becomes arguably, possibly a situation in which we could have even more insecurity. Again, it is typical of how out of control Washington is. They spend years and years debating something. Then they patch it all together and it doesn’t have a unifying purpose.
***********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Are the border control provisions sufficient? Some [Syndicated columnist and Fox News Channel contributor Charles Krauthammer, for example] have said these are bureaucratic inputs—that’s what they are controlling- a portion of a wall, a number of …border agents patrolling. They’re [the critics of McCain-Kennedy-Kyl] saying that you need to say something like, “you will decrease, within a year, 90% of the illegal immigrants coming in; after that, then the country will go to the other provisions of the bill,” would you agree with that?
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani: I am glad you mentioned that because that is part of what I usually propose, which is a border stat program. Attached to this should be a program in which we track and monitor the number of people that we have been able to identify coming over the border and the number of people that we think are getting over the border that we are not identifying. There is photographic equipment now—heat seeking equipment—that allows you to measure that. So, we could set up a border stat program-- like the compstat program that I used to reduce crime by 57%--that would measure how effective we are being and then we could constantly work on that to be more and more effective. But, because this [proposed immigration] law, again, doesn’t have a unifying purpose to it, things like that are not provided for.
*******************************************************
Mayor Rudy Giuliani: Illinois is very important. It is a state that we think we will do very well in—in a Primary and it’s a state that I think we can make competitive in a general election, which means that you can have a campaign, like New York and California.
*******************************************************
Mayor Rudy Giuliani: I know Chicago really well…Your Mayor I really respect, having been a mayor myself, I understand what it takes to be a good mayor and it is hard. You have a really good mayor who is one of the people who helped us the most after September 11. They sent us people; they sent us police officers, fire-fighters. So, I have a like of respect for Chicago and Illinois. We look forward to campaigning here. It will be a lot of fun.
***************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Mayor, would you take out Osama Bin Laden if you were told you had twenty minutes to take him out?
Rudy Giuliani: We’ll answer that question tomorrow night, but I think—read my book about Osama Bin Laden.
***********************************************
Former New York City Mayor and Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani media availability, Borders book store, Chicago Loop, June 4, 2007
*************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Are the border control provisions sufficient...
*************************************************************
Border control and a Borders book store intersected yesterday when Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Republican Presidential Candidate, was in Chicago to pick up some money from a funder at Gibson’s Steak House, with a chat and meet prior to that at Ron and Christina Gidwitz’s home. Before those events, Presidential candidate Giuliani met with a gathering of lawyers and before that, he met with the media at Borders book store in the Chicago Loop. Mayor Giuliani shopped for some CDs after the availability and mentioned at that time that he had missed the Sopranos on Sunday night, but he didn’t want anyone to tell him what happened, as he had Tivoed it.
Including other matters, Mayor Giuliani spoke about some of the problems he had with the proposed Immigration bill. Although the schism [See here] on this matter might be greater between Romney and McCain, who supports the bill, Giuliani is pretty critical, as well, as indicated below. Presumably, these disagreements will be flushed out further in tonight’s Republican Presidential Candidate debate in New Hampshire [sponsored by and airing on CNN, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm (CST)]. For a well written, comprehensive criticism of the immigration bill, see here.
To watch Presidential Candidates Giuliani, Obama, McCain and Cox, as well as many other pols, go to www.PublicAffairsTv.com
**********************************************************
Mike Parker [CBS 2 News]: Senator Obama and Governor Richardson were both in town today and they were talking about the Immigration bill. I know you are not exactly thrilled with it. You called it a hodge podge. Could you expand a little bit?
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani: The problem with it—it has no unifying purpose. The purpose of the immigration bill should be for us to be able to know all of the people in the United States who come from a foreign country. There should be a data base, a unified data base and there should be a tamper proof, single ID card that has biometric data as part of it--that would make it tamper proof. The law that they are dealing with is so much of a—kind of like the worst thing that Washington does now-a-days. In the name of trying to do something, they put things together and they don’t focus on whether they are going to make things worse or better. And, the reality is this would make things even more confusing. There would be multiple methods of identification. There would be no unified data base. There is no method that is provided for, as funded, for exit information. So, you would not know everybody who came into the country, but a lot of people who came into the country, but you wouldn’t know who left, which means you wouldn’t know who was here. And the reality is that we need—and it is very simple but it is hard to do—and Washington has to become disciplined, which it is not-- we’ve got to have a system in which you know everyone who is in the United States from a foreign country. That data base should contain it. Credit card companies track considerably more information than that. It is not too much to ask that Washington provide us with an immigration bill that gives us security.
Mike Parker [CBS 2 News]: What about the Wall? Good idea?
Mayor Rudy Giuliani: If it is part of a method of identifying people coming into the country, it’s a good idea. Physical wall. Technological wall. Increased border control. That’s a good idea. People who are working here-- coming forward, identifying themselves, getting background checks-- all of it could be a good idea if it was attached to the ability of the United States to know everybody who was in this country and a unified data base that would allow you to identify the people who were here. Not attached to that, it becomes arguably, possibly a situation in which we could have even more insecurity. Again, it is typical of how out of control Washington is. They spend years and years debating something. Then they patch it all together and it doesn’t have a unifying purpose.
***********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Are the border control provisions sufficient? Some [Syndicated columnist and Fox News Channel contributor Charles Krauthammer, for example] have said these are bureaucratic inputs—that’s what they are controlling- a portion of a wall, a number of …border agents patrolling. They’re [the critics of McCain-Kennedy-Kyl] saying that you need to say something like, “you will decrease, within a year, 90% of the illegal immigrants coming in; after that, then the country will go to the other provisions of the bill,” would you agree with that?
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani: I am glad you mentioned that because that is part of what I usually propose, which is a border stat program. Attached to this should be a program in which we track and monitor the number of people that we have been able to identify coming over the border and the number of people that we think are getting over the border that we are not identifying. There is photographic equipment now—heat seeking equipment—that allows you to measure that. So, we could set up a border stat program-- like the compstat program that I used to reduce crime by 57%--that would measure how effective we are being and then we could constantly work on that to be more and more effective. But, because this [proposed immigration] law, again, doesn’t have a unifying purpose to it, things like that are not provided for.
*******************************************************
Mayor Rudy Giuliani: Illinois is very important. It is a state that we think we will do very well in—in a Primary and it’s a state that I think we can make competitive in a general election, which means that you can have a campaign, like New York and California.
*******************************************************
Mayor Rudy Giuliani: I know Chicago really well…Your Mayor I really respect, having been a mayor myself, I understand what it takes to be a good mayor and it is hard. You have a really good mayor who is one of the people who helped us the most after September 11. They sent us people; they sent us police officers, fire-fighters. So, I have a like of respect for Chicago and Illinois. We look forward to campaigning here. It will be a lot of fun.
***************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Mayor, would you take out Osama Bin Laden if you were told you had twenty minutes to take him out?
Rudy Giuliani: We’ll answer that question tomorrow night, but I think—read my book about Osama Bin Laden.
***********************************************
Former New York City Mayor and Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani media availability, Borders book store, Chicago Loop, June 4, 2007
<< Home