Giuliani calls for better border security
GRISWOLD, Iowa — Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani talked tough on illegal immigration during a trip to Iowa on Wednesday, calling for better border security and identification cards that help track foreigners who enter the country.
“We have to end illegal immigration, no ifs, no ands, no buts, no more talking about it. We had 20, 25 years of talking about it. We have to do it, and I’m the person to do it,” he told a crowd during a stop in the western Iowa town of Griswold.
His message on immigration is echoed in a new radio ad playing in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Giuliani touted his record as mayor of New York City in reducing crime as evidence he can be successful in cracking down on illegal immigrants.
“I don’t think anyone can discount the tremendous change that was made and the record that I have for bringing security to a place, and safety,” Giuliani said. “In fact, quite frankly, there’s no one running for president that has anywhere near that kind of record in bringing safety and security to a situation as large or as complex as New York was.”
He is proposing what he says would be a tamper-proof, “biometric” ID card with fingerprints that allows the U.S. government to track people who come from a foreign country.
Giuliani also wants a border fence, part of which would include technology such as cameras, motion detectors and heat-seeking equipment that can alert border patrol agents to people approaching the border.
The immigration issue has helped shape the Republican primary race in Iowa.
Republican Tom Tancredo has made the fight against illegal immigration the centerpiece of his run for the White House, which helped boost the little-known candidate to a fourth-place showing at the Iowa Straw Poll over the weekend.
Jay Hoogeveen, a Republican and retired school teacher from Griswold, called stopping illegal immigration “a matter of will.”
“I believe they can stop it in a week if they wanted to. Too many people don’t want to stop it, in my opinion,” he said.
Giuliani spent most of his time during two campaign stops Wednesday signing autographs, posing for pictures and speaking with local residents.
(Reporter Ed Tibbetts contributed to this story.)
Charlotte Eby can be contacted at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.