http://massresistance.org/docs/marriage/romney/health_ins/Romney_health_bill.jpgFor the past week Romney and Giuliani have been trying hard to solidify their position with the Minute Men types. While the Washington Post says they are re-inventing themselves, I believe the Post is wrong. The article says that Romney was a "non-factor" on immigration, that he rarely said anything on the subject. Yet he "...As governor, Romney vetoed a bill that would have allowed illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition at Massachusetts colleges and reached an agreement with federal officials to allow state troopers to enforce federal immigration laws." If vetoing in-state tuition for undocumented students is a non-factor, then reality is being turned upside down.
In addition, he enabled Massechussetts state troopers to act as immigration officials - meaning any undocumented person could get deported if stopped for a traffic ticket - since the officers were authorized to check residency status.
Having driven through three states that have implemented this policy with a van load of undocumented students on our way to Washington, D.C.- I assure anyone reading this that Romney IS/WAS a factor in the immigration debate. This experience left our group full of apprehension. When we were stopped at a road block in Virginia I thought to myself, its all over-the officers are going to take the kids. Thank goodness the officer only smiled at me and quickly returned my driver's license. Its logical that the officer might have wondered about the passengers in the van...maybe he didn't totally agree with Romney. I'm thankful if he didn't - as are the nine students.
Romney's decision to make state troopers immigration agents made life much more difficult and dangerous for undocumented immigrants. His veto of the in-state tuition law says he only wants (what he believes) the right people to obtain a college education. Sounds like he isn't such a compassionate or empathic guy. Do we need another one like this to be President?
*Romney also voted to bar undocumented immigrants from obtaining drivers licenses.
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Romney, Giuliani Escalate Their Immigration Fight
By Michael D. Shear and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, August 17, 2007; Page A02
The two leading Republican presidential candidates have turned the GOP primary campaign into a nasty, week-long debate about illegal immigration, accusing each other of supporting efforts to give undocumented residents sanctuary from federal immigration laws.
At campaign stops, in radio ads and with increasingly hostile statements by supporters, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani are talking about little else as they position themselves on an issue critical to conservatives in their party.
...Giuliani's former deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, went further in an interview. "We have a word here in New York for what Mitt Romney is doing," Mastro said. "It's called chutzpah."
Romney aides responded with an online column by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), who called the immigration policies in New York "troubling" and blamed them for the growth of the nation's population of illegal immigrants....
...As governor, Romney vetoed a bill that would have allowed illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition at Massachusetts colleges and reached an agreement with federal officials to allow state troopers to enforce federal immigration laws.
But Romney's tough rhetoric about sanctuary cities is new, said Shuya Ohno, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. Ohno said Romney was "kind of a non-factor" in most debates about illegal immigration in the state.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/16/AR2007081602266.html
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