http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2 ... v=rss_blog



Giuliani Pushes Back on Immigration Issue
After taking a battering over the last week from Mitt Romney on the issue of illegal immigration, Rudy Giuliani will announce an "Immigration Advisory Board" today and tout his position during a trip to South Carolina tomorrow.

"The mayor will be talking about looking at illegal immigration through the lens of national security," said spokeswoman Maria Comella. Comella also said Giuliani will be making prominent mention of the recent murders of three college students in Newark, N.J. An illegal immigrant is one of the suspects in custody.

Leading the advisory board is Robert Bonner, who served as the first commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection from 2003 to 2005. He also served in a senior position in the Drug Enforcement Agency in the early 1990s. Bonner is currently a partner with Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher.

Other members include C. Stewart Verdery Jr., former assistant Secretary for policy and planning at the Homeland Security department from 2003 to 2005; and Michael Petrucelli, a former chief of staff at the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Giuliani is also expected to launch radio ads outlining his plans on immigration this week, although it's not clear how broadly and where the spots will run.

The focus on immigration comes after Romney's charges last week that New York City was a "sanctuary" city for illegal immigrants when Giuliani was mayor. The Giuliani campaign pointed out that the number of illegal immigrants grew in Massachusetts during Romney's gubernatorial tenure and alleged that Romney did nothing to shut down the three "sanctuary" cities in Massachusetts during his time in office.

The back and forth between the two leading campaigns on the issue shows how potentially potent it is -- especially among Republican base voters.

Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) came in a surprising fourth place in last weekend's Ames straw poll, largely due to his strident opposition to illegal immigration. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) watched as his campaign collapsed after his advocacy for a comprehensive immigration reform plan.

Neither Romney nor Giuliani want to follow McCain's example. Expect an even more spirited debate between the two campaigns in the coming weeks as they battle to see who can talk tougher on immigration policy.

* I did a search on Guiliani and didn't see this one; hopefully not a dup.