Hall of Shame: Rudy Giuliani

Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani says illegal immigration is not a crime. Technically, he is correct. When you throw an immigrant out of the country, it's not a criminal proceeding. It's a civil proceeding. But, obviously, he is not taking the problem seriously.

"Illegal immigration shouldn't be a crime, either," Giuliani said,"... 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. My solution is close the border to illegal immigration."

These statements are a curious way to win the nomination. How is it we can undertake civil proceedings against millions of illegals but not criminal proceedings. Maybe he should suggest a change in the law along the lines of Sensenbrenner, HR 4437. He doesn't explain why we are spending billions of dollars on the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement if no crime is being committed by illegal aliens. Nor does he deal with the case of the repeat offender who returns to the U.S. after having been deported or removed. That person faces jail time -- a startling turn of events for something that is not a crime. Good luck, Rudy, with trying to close the border without criminal penalties.

Rudy missed the point altogether. You don't have to prosecute 12 million cases to send a message to illegal aliens that they are not welcome here and that we will prosecute as many as we can. All we need is a law that says illegal entry is a felony and visa overstays will be heavily fined and immediately deported. Sorry Rudy, no cigar!