Hillary challenged on illegals


November 27, 2007


By Christina Bellantoni - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York was asked at nearly all her Iowa campaign stops over the weekend how she would deal with illegal aliens, and she responded with a call for "comprehensive immigration reform."

It's a question all the presidential candidates face in Iowa and elsewhere. The Republicans incorporate immigration reform into their stump speeches, while the Democrats rarely mention it unless they are asked. But they are almost always asked.

At an event in Sioux City, fifth-grade teacher Dave Lillie asked Mrs. Clinton to pledge health care coverage for illegal aliens, noting that he sees the problems resulting from a broken system every day at work.

"I have not included people who are undocumented in my health care plan," she responded, adding that she supports a safety net to prevent the spread of disease.

After the event, Mr. Lillie said he felt Mrs. Clinton had dodged his question.

"She did not answer me," he told The Washington Times. "I think she said what people wanted to hear. Every candidate says what they need to so they can get elected."

Others asked the former first lady about her position on "securing our borders" and her "approach to Mexico" and the immigration system.

The senator said she wants reform that allows illegals to earn citizenship and "cracks down" on employers who hire illegals.

"Practically the only thing we can do is to get people to come out of the shadows," she said. "I want to know who is here."

Mrs. Clinton usually adds that she would support a mandate that illegals seeking citizenship pay a fine, pay back taxes and "learn English," a line that gets loud applause each time.

She also invoked the September 11 hijackers as examples of aliens who overstayed their legal visas, calling border security an issue she takes "extremely personally."

Mrs. Clinton criticized "demagogues" who call for deportation of the nation's illegals. She said such an idea would be costly and unrealistic, and would amount to "basically knocking on every door" and creating "essentially a police state."

"I don't see that ever working in this country," she said, predicting it would be "a matter of hours before Americans were outraged. ... The smart and best thing to do is to ask people to come out of the shadows to register them."

Iowa polls show that immigration is a top issue. Republican candidate Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado is running an ad in Iowa saying open borders make the nation vulnerable to a terrorist attack.

"There are consequences to open borders beyond the 20 million aliens who've come to take our jobs," the ad states, as a man in a hooded sweat shirt leaves a bomb in a crowded area. After the narrator laments "spineless politicians who refuse to defend our borders against those who come to kill," an explosion sounds.

Some Iowans say the rhetoric has become too heated. The Iowa Interfaith Immigration Coalition is collecting signatures for a petition urging presidential candidates "to stand with our immigrant neighbors who have come to the United States from throughout the world."

The Grace United Methodist Church in Des Moines, where Mrs. Clinton attended services Sunday, is gathering signatures. The coalition will present about 3,000 petition signatures to each candidate next week.

"We want to change the conversation," said Connie Ryan Terrell, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa. "Regardless of what we think about immigration reform and policy, we should always start with the idea that people should be treated with dignity."

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