President Bush and Congress should now focus their efforts on securing the U.S.-Mexico border, leaving other related aspects of the immigration issue until later, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said July 25.
After the collapse of a multipronged U.S. Senate bill on immigration, “I hope President Bush now puts now his energy into building the fence, building a technological fence, increasing the size of the Border Patrol and creating order at the border, which is all that anyone’s asking for,” Giuliani said.
“In trying to solve everything at once, they were solving nothing,” the former New York City mayor added. “Maybe the lesson that should come out of that is the effort should now be put on securing the border. Let’s get that done and then let’s see how do we rationally solve the rest of the problems that remain.”
Securing the border, Giuliani told reporters after a visit to a Costco store while in Phoenix for an evening fundraiser, would be “a first step and the most important step in trying to figure out how to rationally solve all of these problems but they can’t be solved until you secure the border.”
Asked about a new Arizona law that will require suspension or revocation of business licenses of employers that knowingly hire illegal immigrants, Giuliani said it appeared to be a response by the state to the federal government’s failure to address the issue.
“Arizona has the deal with this they way they want to,” he said.
While about to leave the store, Giuliani told a shopper who said she’d underwent chemotherapy the day before that he plans to announce a comprehensive health care proposal next month.
It will include vouchers, tax credits and tax exemptions, Giuliani told Theresa Maudie, a 49-year-old mechanical engineer wearing a baseball on her bald head.
After Giuliani moved off, Maudie said she welcomed Giuliani’s willingness to address the issue.
“This is a big issue for me,” said Maudie, who said she lost she lost health coverage as part of a corporate reorganization. “I can't believe he talked to me that long.”
Giuliani has said previously he would help people afford health coverage by creating a $15,000 tax break for people to buy private health insurance. Any leftover money could be used for other health expenses, and the money could be rolled over from year to year, he said during a recent campaign stop in Iowa.
Giuliani also has said promises of universal health care are hollow and simply not manageable.
Ending illegal immigration and improving public access to health care are among a dozen proposals that Giuliani identified in June as priority commitments.
On other topics, Giuliani:
• Expressed no preference on when Arizona holds its 2008 presidential primary. State law calls for it to be held Feb. 26 but also allows Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano the power to unilaterally set a different date. She has indicated she plans to decide next month whether to do so.
• Defended the Republican presidential candidates, derided July 23 by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a potential candidate, as a “pathetic” group of “pygmies.”
Giuliani cited his own experience as a big city’s mayor and noted that the field also includes two former governors.
“We have much more (executive) experience than they do,” Giuliani said, referring to the Democratic hopefuls. “We’ve got a lot of good candidates.”

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