20 AUG 07 / "Mitt Hits Rudy on Immigration"

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney last week criticized Rudy Giuliani on his immigration record as mayor of New York City. Romney asserted that New York City is a 'sanctuary city' for illegal immigrants and Giuliani did not act to change that. Romney's remarks constitute the opening salvo between the two Republican presidential contenders, whom I believe are the strongest in their party.

But voters who examine the record more closely will realize that Giuliani's policies weren't exactly lax. As the mayor of New York, Giuliani was trying to bring the crime rate down and he had little control over what immigrants lived in the city since border enforcement is a federal responsibility.

Coming off first place finishes in the Iowa and Illinois straw polls, Romney is now trying to capture the Republican base.

Giuliani has high name recognition and is a strong leader who brought New York from the brink. Romney is the perfect combination of style and substance and has a distinguished record of achievement in both the private and public sectors. Both are extremely competent and confident.

These precise facts matter little to most Republican primary voters, however. In their eyes, Romney has scored points and successfully positioned himself to the right of Giuliani on the issue of illegal immigration.

I don't believe Romney's and Giuliani's views on immigration differ greatly, however. They're both too intelligent not to understand to important role immigrants play in our society. The president's guest worker plan is the right one, but for a Republican presidential candidate to differ from the base on this issue is political suicide. It would require a person of tremendous political and personal courage like John McCain.

Proposition 187 in California damaged the state Republican Party significantly. The national party's current stance on immigration is likely to do the same.

The front-loaded primary schedule will leave little time for voters to consider the remaining candidates. Giuliani and Romney constitute the top tier. No one else has a chance at the nomination. And it will quickly devolve into a two-man race.

Romney could have been more critical. Giuliani has been very pro-immigrant even though he adopted the policy of his predecessor Ed Koch's views to encourage illegal immigrants from reporting crimes.

Despite the fact that Romney as governor of Massachusetts took more action to stem the tide of illegal immigration to the state, it is somewhat hypocritical of Romney to attack Giuliani on his past immigration stances because it is akin to those attacking Romney on his past views on abortion.

Conservatives feel so strongly about immigration, it's forcing reasonable people into rather extreme positions. Romney says he supports legal immigration, but the fundamental problem remains that currently laws do not reflect the law of supply and demand in the U.S. labor market.

Romney has spoken out against sanctuary cities. But the fact remains that New York is the safest big city in the United States. Especially after the news came out that illegal immigrants killed the three students in Newark, NJ.

In light of the fact that pro-immigration forces were routed in this summer's debate, he can't lose by coming out strong on the winning side.

Giuliani decided to neatly / adroitly side-step the oncoming train by saying he did not support the Senate bill because it did not have a national identification system. Does that mean he supported the rest of the legislation? The press didn't seem to probe any deeper ...

Both are energetic, charismatic, and intelligent; but I believe both are ignoring the reality that the immigration laws of the United States do not reflect the law of supply and demand of our labor market.

If the federal government begins to enforce the laws that are actually on the books, at it appears it is ... Illegal immigration will likely diminish and there will be an outflow of illegals currently in the country. But what are the implications of this policy.

We will lose millions of workers and our economy will be threatened. No one talks about the inflationary pressures that would result. How much money would the average American worker demand per hour to work as a roofer in July and August. My bet is three times the current hourly wage of the average Central American immigrant. That means your next roof will hit you three times as hard in the pocketbook.

The United States will not be as competitive in the global economy. To compete with countries like China and India, our population needs to continue to grow. And I would suggest we adopt measure to encourage larger familes of both the immigrant and non-immigrant populations.

Romney has surged in the polls of late, due to his non-stop and energetic campaigning and wins in the Iowa and Illinois straw polls.

While not Both presidential candidates have had moderate views on immigration in the past.

To contrast his position with Giuliani's and further carve some support from the Republican base. It's a smart albeit obvious political maneuver / calculation that will erode some of Giuliani's support among Republican primary voters

The problem is that the debate is not being framed in the right way ... We can ensure immigrants are assimilated, that they don't have a free ride, that they don't subtract but add to our culture -- there are conservative measures in that the debate that I would support, but this notion that illegal immigration is harming the country is just plain wrong. And time will prove me right. When China and India are eating our lunch and we don't have the tax revenue to keep our entitlement spending obligations, and we've been reduced to the status of former superpower.

Pandering on the issue, but candidates have to address it and McCain hasn't been able to turn the base against him. It's an almost impossible sell.

Romney is moving smartly to the right to claim the conservative mantle. The problem is that conservatives are mostly wrong on the issue of illegal immigration. The right course of action on such an important and divisive issue is not always the most politically expedient. The conservative position is insensible. Assimilating and accepting immigrants is America's tradition. Without illegal immigrants our economy would collapse. Entire industries rely on immigrants as an affordable source of labor. Our country deserves better.