“Can You Give Me Sanctuary, I Must Find a Place To Hide . . .” 0
With apologies to the Doors:
FactCheck dot Org investigates Guiliani’s flip-flops:
We took up their challenge, digging into the specific policies of cities on CRS’ list, including those that openly call themselves “sanctuary” cities, and comparing those policies to Giuliani’s. We found the following:
- The policy ordered by Giuliani as it relates to law enforcement differs only in minor respects from those of cities, including San Francisco and Cambridge, Mass., that openly called themselves “sanctuary” cities or places of “refuge.” New York police could turn over the names of illegal aliens to federal immigration authorities if “suspected†of a crime, while San Francisco required that a suspected criminal also be booked on felony charges and in custody, for example.
- Immigration experts we consulted said New York’s policy differed but little from others that CRS put under the heading of “sanctuary†cities. “If you commit a crime … well then, in virtually all of these localities and states, you’re no longer protected or insulated,†said Marshall Fitz of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
- We also found that New York appears on another list – this one prepared by the National Immigration Law Center – of 70 jurisdictions that had policies “limiting local enforcement of federal immigration law.
Full disclosure:
I believe that the current furor over immigration has more to do bigotry than with morality or legality.
I believe that the pandering of many of the candidates for the Republican nomination to the anti-immigrant wing of the party is pandering to racism. But, then, that’s the Southern Strategy.
As much as I find many of John McCain’s positions distasteful, I must honor him for not piling on the bigotry train.
Putting aside my belief, formed over 57 years of observing the political landscape, that any Democrat is better than every Republican, I believe that a Guiliani presidency would be as much a catastrophe as the Bush presidency has been.
Of course, that goes for a Huckabee presidency or a McCain presidency or almost any other Republican presidency.
It also might go for a Romney presidency, as soon as Romney decides what he believes.
