Sioux City Journal

Thompson takes stand on immigration

By Charlotte Eby Journal Des Moines Bureau | Posted: Tuesday, November 13, 2007

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.

Charlotte Eby can be reached at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com.{M7

Story Comments

anybodybuthillary wrote on Nov 13, 2007 10:24 PM:

" Rock on Fred! "

Dan Finken wrote on Nov 13, 2007 4:45 PM:

" The government better decide something before the bloodshed starts, then it will be too late. "

msbobbie wrote on Nov 13, 2007 6:02 AM:

" For months former lawyer-bit actor-lobbyist-senator-CFR member-actor and now Presidential candidate Fred Thompson played a testing the waters/listening tour/maybe I will maybe I won't game with the American people postponing and delaying an official announcement about his Presidential campaign and talking in circles and avoiding debates where he could be scrutinized until after the deadline where he will not have to report his campaign contributions or their sources until the middle of January, 2008. Fifty five days after that official announcement he tells us what he thinks about illegal immigration, and did not take a page from Tom Tancredo's campaign, he took the whole danged play book. Remember! The candidate is not the law and order guy you see on television. He is the Council on Foreign Affairs pick to put the icing on the cake GWB has baked and lead us into a North American Union. If you really want your country back rush to your caucus and vote for Tom Tancredo. He has been delivering this message since he entered Congress in 1999. Check it out! "

Keith wrote on Nov 13, 2007 3:23 AM:

" Former Senator Fred Thompson is the only candidate that gets it. He makes decisions based on principles. Principles don�t change. You have to stand for something and not change who you are based on the polls. That is what Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani have done and all of the Democrats do it. Give me a leader that will stand by his principles anyday versus someone that stands for everything. I know many Republicans and conservatives that will stay home if Rudy Giuliani is the candidate. He does not represent our values as conservatives, and never will. Millionaire Mitt Romney is a Republican-in-name-only (RINO ) that simply has everything else and nothing to do. �I guess I�ll just try to buy the presidency�. The White House isn�t for sale! Conservatives will simply stay home and the Democrats will pick up additional seats in the House and probably get the 60 seats in the Senate they need to completely destroy our Country. Nice picture huh? "