June 30, 2010

Christie on immigration

A few readers have asked for a fuller version of Chris Christie's discussion of immigration, which Maggie Haberman and I wrote about today.

So here's a bit more detail on his view, on an issue on which he said President Obama must "show the leadership."

"What I support is making sure that the federal government [plays] each and every one of its roles: Securing the border, enforcing immigration laws, and having an orderly process -- whatever that process is -- for people to gain citizenship."

He added: "It's a very easy issue to demagogue and I'm just not going to participate in that."

Christie said more resources -- specifically, "money" -- were needed to support federal law enforcement and border security, along with "having a clear understandable law that people can follow."

"Until you have both of those...you're not going to fix the problem," he said.

Christie also said he thinks state and local law enforcement don't have appropriate training to enforce immigration laws, and that it can distract from their overriding goal of keeping the public safe.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/ ... ation.html