Rudy Giuliani's Stance on Illegal Immigration

With tensions in the United States mounting over the debate of building a fence and strengthening border security between the United States and Mexico, the issue of illegal immigration has become an important topic in the 2008 Presidential race. While each candidate has their own ideas about how to deal with this issue, the following article will focus on former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani's stance on this issue.

Some politicians have discussed making English the official national language of the United States. While Rudy Giuliani has not committed to a stance on this issue, he feels that proficiency in the English language is a top priority for obtaining legal status for people already in the United States illegally. By mastering the English language, Giuliani feels that immigrants will be able to effectively communicate with the people of the country they are entering. Giuliani was quoted on Meet the Press as saying, "There isn't a mayor or a public official in this country that's more strongly pro-immigrant than I am, including disagreeing with President Clinton when he signed an anti-immigration legislation about two or three years ago, which we got some amendments of to protect the rights of immigrants."

The rights of immigrants once they enter this country are also important to Rudy Giuliani, which he has demonstrated by supporting President Bush's Guest Worker program. This controversial program, which faces strong opposition from Congress, suggests that illegal workers would become legal for a period of six years, and would be able to obtain temporary legal status and some civil rights. Under this program, industries that need unskilled labor are provided with a workforce in the United States. Conservatives feel this program just lets more illegal immigrants into the country, while Liberals think it just makes it easier to deport people.