The American Spectator reports that "Rudy Giuliani announced his plan to get control of the borders... In an interview, Giuliani's top adviser on immigration, Robert Bonner, described Giuliani's plan":

  • Giuliani is "committed to not repeating the mistakes of the past." He says that "we didn't come close" to keeping the promises of the 1986 Act to build up border forces and increase staffing, noting that the level of roughly 4,000 border enforcement agents remained roughly constant throughout the Clinton administration
  • "You have to have a commitment to control the borders. We are a sovereign nation. That's what sovereign nations do." He says that it is absurd to pursue a plan to fence just 700 miles of the border. He is emphatic that we "need a fence that extends the entire 2,000 miles."
  • In regards to the illegal immigrants already here, we should focus "on first things first." He says: "If the boat is leaking, you need to plug the leaks. If you don't, why bother with the rest of it?" He does offer that "we are not going to give special benefits to people who have broken the rules."
  • Giuliani "is the only candidate who has articulated a plan and the only one with leadership skills to get it done." Giuliani's CompStat program for reducing crime in New York City [would be adapted] "for holding people accountable for crime and apply it to the border, which is an enforcement issue." He says Giuliani sees enforcement of the borders as "100%, not 70% and not 80%" attainable.
  • Giuliani places great weight on a "biometric fraud proof ID card" for foreign workers. He terms the present system, which allows employers to accept without question any two of 29 types of identification, rife with "massive fraud." Under the system Giuliani is recommending, employers would have a single biometric card and would be required to "query a database." The aim is to "make it difficult for employers to look the other way." In short, he says that by changing the employer verification system and greatly increasing penalties you will "turn off the magnet" that attracts illegal immigrants.
  • aside from the issue of illegal immigration the loss of border security is a national security danger. He says "in a post-9-11 world and in an era of Islamic terrorists it is essential" to control who is entering the country. "no one knows it better" that Giuliani, who has made it his second commitment. Giuliani has the "most credibility on counterterrorism," which includes border control, and he reiterates that Al Qaeda contemplated a plot for "infiltration" of America through the Mexican border.
  • the Giuliani camp clearly will seek to characterize immigration as a law enforcement and national security issue.