Rudy Giuliani has just deep-sixed his presidential bid as a Republican, demonstrated yet again that he's a genuine leader, added much needed expertise to the national discussion around "illegal" immigration--or, all of the above.Check out this ground-breaking exchange between radio/cable personality Glenn Beck and Rudy:
GIULIANI: The context of that was for people to come forward to report crimes because we needed their help and we didn't want them to be afraid of coming forward. The context of that was we wanted them to put their children in school not to be afraid to do that. Even with the policy that I pointed, I continued it was probably seven, eight years old, there were still people, illegal immigrants, who would not report crimes. But we wanted them to.Hallelujah!!!
GLENN: Right. But isn't illegal immigration a crime in and of itself?
GIULIANI: No.
GLENN: Aren't you saying --
GIULIANI: Glenn --
GLENN: You're protecting criminals by saying that being treated as a criminal is unfair.
GIULIANI: Glenn, it's not a crime. I know that's very hard for people to understand, but it's not a federal crime.
GLENN: It's a misdemeanor but if you've been nailed, it is a crime. If you've been nailed, ship back and come back, it is a crime.
GIULIANI: Glenn, being an illegal immigrant, the 400,000 were not prosecuted for crimes by the federal government, nor could they be. I was U.S. attorney in the southern district of New York. So believe me, I know this. In fact, when you throw an immigrant out of the country, it's not a criminal proceeding. It's a civil proceeding.
GLENN: Is it --
GIULIANI: One of the things that congress wanted to do a year ago is to make it a crime, which indicates that it isn't.
GLENN: Should it be?
GIULIANI: Should it be? No, it shouldn't be because the government wouldn't be able to prosecute it. We couldn't prosecute 12 million people. We have only 2 million people in jail right now for all the crimes that are committed in the country, 2.5 million. If you were to make it a crime, you would have to take the resources of the criminal justice system and increase it by about 6. In other words, you'd have to take all the 800,000 police, and who knows how many police we would have to have.
Rudy is a former federal prosecutor and a Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan. It seems to me that Rudy probably knows what he's talking about. But if his view stands up, doesn't that blow the cover off of all of those closeted racists hiding behind the it's "illegal" banner?
Sweet.
Click here for the full transcript.
Click here for Glenn Beck's website.
Seems Rudy is wrong about his statement that people in the US illegally is not breakingthe law.
ReplyDeleteU.S.Code Title 8 ; section 1325 states very plain that they are guilty of breaking a Federal law.
Check it out!
hammerer,
ReplyDeleteThe question is whether unauthorized immigration is a crime. Rudy argues that "U.S. Code Title 8; Section 1325" makes doing so a civil infraction and not a criminal offense. Granted the difference may not matter to the typical anti-immigrant, but Rudy's lawyerly take on the issue is quite illuminating.
It would appear that many, many Americans--those caught and the many more that haven't been caught--are as or more "criminal".
Here's the actual language:
Section 1325. Improper entry by alien
a) Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection; misrepresentation and concealment of facts
Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States
at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.
(b) Improper time or place; civil penalties
Any alien who is apprehended while entering (or attempting to enter) the United States at a time or place other than as designated by immigration officers shall be subject to a civil penalty of -
(1) at least $50 and not more than $250 for each such entry (or attempted entry); or
(2) twice the amount specified in paragraph (1) in the case of an alien who has been previously subject to a civil penalty under this subsection.