Thread: Thompson takes stand on immigration

Thompson takes stand on immigration
By Charlotte Eby Journal Des Moines Bureau

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- At a campaign event Monday, Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson rejected the idea of allowing illegal immigrants to earn U.S. citizenship through military service.

Anna Castaner, an Indianola resident, posed the question to Thompson during an event inside a coffee shop.

Thompson drew applause from the crowd when he said he wouldn't support it.

"They need to go back and abide by the law," Thompson said.

The former U.S. senator from Tennessee said the country could have "enforcement by attrition."

He called for securing the American border and stopping so-called sanctuary cities from blocking the enforcement of immigration laws.

He said employers knowingly hiring illegal immigrants also should be stopped.

"After a little while, we're going to start seeing movement in the right direction. This problem wasn't created overnight and won't be solved overnight," he said.

Thompson voiced support for a proposal by U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, that would prohibit employers from deducting payroll taxes for illegal immigrants they knowingly employ.

Thompson said the country shouldn't accommodate illegal immigrants, and that people who are here illegally shouldn't set the terms or bargain for the circumstances under which they are allowed to stay.

"And until we convince the American people that we're going to enforce our own laws, and enforce our own borders, none of this other stuff is going to fly because it's counter-intuitive to the way we do things here in this country," Thompson said.

Castaner, the woman who asked the question, likes Thompson in the GOP caucus race as well as Rudy Giuliani, whom she describes as more open-minded.

She said she thinks Giuliani's moderate positions are more in tune with the rest of the country.

"That's why he's more popular," Castaner said.

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Nope. Many of the elites are rallying behind Giuliani -- but Thompson's current views on illegal immigration are MUCH more in tune with what the American want than amnesty-Rudy.