The Political Whore

From the just-released CNN transcript of the first part of debate:

ERNIE NARDI:  This is Ernie Nardi from Dyker Heights in Brooklyn,
New York, with a question for the ex-Mayor Giuliani.

Under your administration, as well as others, New York City was
operated as a sanctuary city, aiding and abetting illegal aliens.

NARDI:  I would like to know, if you become president of the
United States, will you continue to aid and abet the flight of illegal
aliens into this country?

COOPER:  Mayor Giuliani?

GIULIANI:  Ernie, that was a very good question.  And the reality
is that New York City was not a sanctuary city.  (OFF-MIKE) single
illegal immigrant that New York City could find that either committed
a crime or was suspected of a crime.  That was in the executive order
originally done by Ed Koch, continued by David Dinkins and then done
by me.

The reason for the confusion is, there were three areas in which
New York City made an exception.  New York City allowed the children
of illegal immigrants to go to school.  If we didn’t allow the
children of illegal immigrants to go to school, we would have had
70,000 children on the streets at a time in which New York City was
going through a massive crime wave, averaging 2,000 murders a year,
10,000 felonies a week.

The other two exceptions related to care — emergency care in the
hospital and being able to report crimes.  If we didn’t allow illegals
to report crimes, a lot of criminals would have gone free because
they’re the ones who had the information.

GIULIANI:  But, most important point is, we reported thousands
and thousands and thousands of names of illegal immigrants who
committed crimes to the immigration service.  They did not deport
them.  And what we did, the policies that we had, were necessary
because the federal policies weren’t working.

The federal policies weren’t working, stopping people coming into
the United States.  If I were president of the United States, I could
do something about that by deploying a fence, by deploying a virtual
fence, by having a BorderStat system like my COMSTAT system that
brought down crime in New York, and just stopping people from coming
in, and then having a tamper-proof ID card.

COOPER:  Time.

Governor Romney, was New York a sanctuary city?

ROMNEY:  Absolutely.  It called itself a sanctuary city.  And as
a matter of fact, when the welfare reform act that President Clinton
brought forward said that they were going to end the sanctuary policy
of New York City, the mayor actually brought a suit to maintain its
sanctuary city status.

ROMNEY:  And the idea that they reported any illegal alien that
committed a crime — how about the fact that the people who are here
illegally have violated the law?  They didn’t report everybody they
found that was here illegally.

(APPLAUSE)

And this happens to be a difference between Mayor Giuliani and
myself and probably others on this stage as well, which is we’re going
to have to recognize in this country that we welcome people here
legally.

But the mayor said — and I quote almost verbatim — which is if
you happen to be in this country in an undocumented status — and that
means you’re here illegally — then we welcome you here.  We want you
here.  We’ll protect you here.

That’s the wrong attitude.  Instead, we should say if you’re here
illegally, you should not be here.  We’re not going to give you
benefits, other than those required by the law, like health care and
education, and that’s the course we’re going to have to pursue.

COOPER:  Mayor Giuliani?

GIULIANI:  It’s unfortunate, but Mitt generally criticizes people
in a situation in which he’s had far the — worst record.

For example, in his case, there were six sanctuary cities.  He
did nothing about them.

GIULIANI:  There was even a sanctuary mansion.  At his own home,
illegal immigrants were being employed…

(APPLAUSE)

… not being turned into anybody or by anyone.  And then when he
deputized the police, he did it two weeks before he was going to leave
office, and they never even seemed to catch the illegal immigrants
that were working at his mansion.  So I would say he had sanctuary
mansion, not just sanctuary city.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER:  All right.  I have to allow Governor Romney to
respond…

ROMNEY:  Mayor, you know better than that.

(LAUGHTER)

GIULIANI:  No…

ROMNEY:  OK, then listen.  All right?  Then listen.  First of
all…

GIULIANI:  You did have illegal immigrants working at your
mansion, didn’t you?

ROMNEY:  No, I did not, so let’s just talk about that.  Are you
suggesting, Mr. Mayor — because I think it is really kind of
offensive actually to suggest, to say look, you know what, if you are
a homeowner and you hire a company to come provide a service at your
home — paint the home, put on the roof.  If you hear someone that is
working out there, not that you have employed, but that the company
has.

ROMNEY:  If you hear someone with a funny accent, you, as a
homeowner, are supposed to go out there and say, “I want to see your
papers.”

Is that what you’re suggesting?

GIULIANI:  What I’m suggesting is, if you…

(CROSSTALK)

GIULIANI:  If you’re going to take this holier than thou
attitude, that your whole approach to immigration…

ROMNEY:  I’m sorry, immigration is not holier than thou, Mayor.
It’s the law.

GIULIANI:  If you’re going to take this holier than thou attitude
that you are perfect on immigration…

ROMNEY:  I’m not perfect.

GIULIANI:  … it just happens you have a special immigration
problem that nobody else up here has.  You were employing illegal
immigrants.  That is a pretty serious thing.  They were under your
nose.

(APPLAUSE)

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