Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is accusing GOP rival Rudy Giuliani of hypocrisy for opposing drivers licenses for illegal immigrants after welcoming illegals to New York City.
“He encourages illegal immigration and provides New York City as a sanctuary city and then suddenly decides to draw the line at driver’s licenses,” Romney spokesman Kevin Madden told The Examiner. “The mayor can look in the mirror if he’s looking for an explanation as to why we have an illegal immigration problem in the first place.”
When he was mayor of New York, Giuliani enforced an executive order forbidding city workers from reporting illegal aliens to federal immigration authorities.
“There are times when undocumented immigrants must have a substantial degree of protection,” he explained.
In 1994, Giuliani championed illegal immigrants.
“Some of the hardest-working and most productive people in this city are undocumented aliens,” the mayor said at a press conference. “If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you’re one of the people who we want in this city.”
On Friday, the Giuliani campaign explained that the mayor was forced to contend with a federal government that refused to do anything about the hundreds of thousands of illegals in New York.
The campaign also said that when Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he did nothing to stop five cities in the state fromproviding sanctuary to illegal immigrants. Media outlets even reported that illegal immigrants were employed by a firm that cared for the lawn at Romney’s home.
Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella marveled at the “level of hypocrisy coming from the Romney campaign on this issue, which they are completely shameless about.”
“The Romney campaign should take a look back at their own candidate’s record,” she added. “I know it’s confusing because it’s changed so frequently over the course of time, but under Mitt Romney’s watch, the number of illegal immigrants increased in Massachusetts.”
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently caused a stir by voicing support for New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to provide drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. In response to the controversy, Giuliani announced plans to push for a federal ban on such licenses.
On Friday, Romney unveiled a new TV ad in which he pledges to deny driver’s licenses to illegals if elected president.
“Hillary Clinton and the Democrats have it wrong on illegal immigration,” Romney says in the ad. “Our party should not make that mistake.”
He adds: “As governor, I authorized the state police to enforce immigration laws. I opposed driver’s licenses and in-state tuition for illegal aliens.”
Madden told The Examiner: “Mayor Giuliani’s sanctuary-city approach to illegal immigration is indistinguishable from that of Senator Clinton, unfortunately.”
