Immigration issues highlight Thompson's first Ga. trip
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution : October 18 , 2007 -- by JIM GALLOWAY

"Later, Thompson said that after securing the U.S. border, the millions of undocumented foreign workers now working in the U.S. could be addressed through attrition."

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson breezed through metro Atlanta ahead of a rare line of thunderclouds Thursday, brandishing his conservative credentials and accusing GOP rivals Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney of favoring "sanctuaries" for illegal immigrants.

In a brief interview, Thompson also addressed questions that some conservative Christian leaders have raised about his religious convictions, and work he once did as a lobbyist for an abortion rights group.


He said he wasn't bothered by the scrutiny.


"If you're right with the man upstairs, and you're right with those who love you, and those who you love, then everything else will take care of itself," said the former Tennessee senator and "Law and Order" actor.


Thompson's first foray into Georgia consisted of two fund-raisers and an airport gathering of 70 supporters and reporters in Kennesaw.


In a hanger at McCollum Airport, Thompson was endorsed by two Cobb County officials, Sheriff Neil Warren and District Attorney Pat Head. In July, Warren became the first sheriff in Georgia to have his deputies trained to determine the immigration status of foreign workers who land in the Cobb County jail.


Thompson put illegal immigration atop of a long list of positions that he said proved his conservative pedigree.


Thompson accused both Romney and Giuliani of tolerating "sanctuary" policies endorsed by some U.S. cities, in which local authorites routinely don't inquire into an individual's immigration status.


"I voted to do away with sanctuary cities," said Thompson. He pointed to Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York. "I don't know where [Giuliani] stands today on that. I know where he stood then," Thompson said.


Later, Thompson said that after securing the U.S. border, the millions of undocumented foreign workers now working in the U.S. could be addressed through attrition.


"They set up a false choice -- either we get giant busloads of people tomorrow, and round them all up, or we have to grant amnesty. Attrition by enforcement is what makes the most sense," he said.

But Thompson said he didn't favor tougher penalties for businesses who employ illegal workers. "I think the issue now has to do more with enforcement," he said.

Illegal immigration remains one of most volatile issues in Republican politics, particularly in the heavily affected South. From afar, Giuliani and Romney were unwilling to concede Thompson the territory.

Both campaigns accused Thompson of casting a 1995 vote to preserve welfare benefits for illegal immigrants, and a 1996 vote against an employee verification system.

Thompson, who entered the race in September, lags behind in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. But polls in Georgia have put him at the top of the Republican pack -- despite the fact that, as of Sept. 30, Georgia donors have supplied Thompson with much less cash than Giuliani or Romney.

In Georgia, as in the rest of the nation, the unsettled nature of the Republican race is largely due to the failure of evangelicals voters -- who form the core of the GOP vote -- to rally behind a single candidate.

Giuliani is pro-choice. Romney's Mormon faith disturbs many Baptists and Methodists in the South. Last month, Thompson's admission -- while campaigning in South Carolina -- that he is not a regular church-goer also raised evangelical eyebrows.

And at the airport in Kennesaw, one member of the audience asked Thompson whether he regretted lobbying work he did in the 1990s for an abortion rights group.

"That was private life," Thompson said. But as a senator from Tennessee, Thompson added, he voted "100 percent" with the agenda of anti-abortion forces.

In the interview afterwards, Thompson said he had no regrets. "I was practicing law, and this was a client of a big firm," Thompson said. "Don't confuse the lawyer with the client. And I don't think most people make that mistake."

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