WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As he campaigns in South Carolina today, Rudy Giuliani again will mislead voters about his record as New York City's mayor. While Giuliani says he is "committed" to ending illegal immigration, as mayor he said "we want to protect" undocumented workers and he "pushed policies" for illegal immigrants by saying, "The reality is that they are here, and they're going to remain here." [The New York Times, 4/22/07]

In contrast to his newfound "commitment" to fighting illegal immigration, as mayor Giuliani in fact filed a lawsuit against the federal efforts to turn in illegal immigrants who sought city services. Moreover, statistics show that Rudy's recent claim made that the city "had the least amount of illegality of any kind, whether you're talking about illegal immigrants or illegal Americans" is outright wrong. Records show that the number of undocumented immigrants in the city actually grew during his tenure. [The New York Times, 10/12/96, Giuliani, 9/30/96, http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/rwg/html/96/immig.html, New York Sun, 12/6/05]

From exaggerating his leadership in the aftermath of 9/11 to distorting the city's fiscal record during his tenure to overstating the number of adoptions under his watch, Rudy Giuliani's remarks today is part of a pattern in recent months to stretch the truth about his mayoral record.

"He can try to run, but he can not hide from his contradictory record on illegal immigration," said DNC Communications Director Karen Finney. "While he may try to outright mislead voters about his so-called commitments, the truth is they will see through Giuliani's empty rhetoric. Again, voters will ask themselves how can they trust Rudy to lead our country when they can't trust him to tell the truth about his record as Mayor of New York City?"

THE TRUTH BEHIND GIULIANI'S COMMITMENTS:
IMMIGRATION & BORDER SECURITY EDITION

RUDY GIULIANI ON IMMIGRATION

To Undocumented Workers: "We Want" You. If "you happen to be in an undocumented status, you're one of the people who we want in this city. You're somebody that we want to protect." [The New York Times, 6/10/94]

City Policy Banned Police, Others From Reporting Immigration Status. "Giuliani filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government yesterday, challenging provisions of the new welfare and immigration laws that allow city employees to turn in illegal immigrants who seek services like police protection, hospital care and public education. The Mayor called the provisions unconstitutional and said they would overturn a New York City executive order in effect since 1985 that forbids city employees to report illegal immigrants." [The New York Times, 10/12/96]

We Don't Need A Law. "You can end illegal immigration without anymore legislation." [Hugh Hewitt Show, 6/12/07, http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/talkradio/transcripts/

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KEY POSITIONS UNCLEAR

Giuliani Is Unclear On Path To Citizenship For Illegal Immigrants. On June 13th, Giuliani said that he would ask illegal immigrants in the United States to "come forward" and "sign up" and thus was asked, "You'd give them a path to citizenship?" Giuliani replied, "No. Didn't say that yet. The people that are working, if they stay here, if they work, if they were productive, at some point, if you wanted to make them citizens, you'd have them earn it by paying penalties, and you'd have them demonstrate they can read, write and speak English." ["Money and Politics," CNBC, 6/13/07 (emphasis added)]

Hasn't Explained His Record. While opponents have charged that under Giuliani, New York City was a "sanctuary" for illegal immigrants, "Giuliani hasn't actually addressed the sanctuary city at any length yet." [Jonathan Martin, politico.com, 8/13/07 (http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0807/

Rudy_Romney_keep_scrapping_over_immigration.html)]

FLIP FLOP ALERT

Flip Flopped On English As The Official Language. This year, Giuliani has "signaled his support for making English the nation's official language" yet in 1996, he opposed English as an official language, saying "there's no reason to pass a bill like this except, maybe, to exclude people, insult people or offend people." [Newsday (New York), 6/6/07; The New York Times, 8/14/96]

Huge Shift In Tone, Policy. "In contrast to his years as mayor, when he fought federal efforts to curtail public hospital or educational services to illegal immigrants, he now talks of penalties for people here illegally and requirements for them to wait at the back of the line. And while he once pushed policies like providing schooling for the children of illegal immigrants by saying, 'The reality is that they are here, and they're going to remain here,' now he emphasizes denying amnesty." [The New York Times, 4/22/07]

BIZZARE CLAIMS ABOUT HIS RECORD

RHETORIC: Less Illegal Immigrants Then Anywhere? Giuliani claims that when he left office, New York City had less illegal immigrants then any other city, saying, "When I left office, it was the safest large city in America in just about every single category, which means it had the least amount of illegality of any kind, whether you're talking about illegal immigrants or illegal Americans," Giuliani said. [Associated Press, 8/10/07]

REALITY: Number Grew In New York City
• 1996: Giuliani Says 400,000: "In New York City, which has 400,000 undocumented immigrants." [Giuliani, 9/30/96 (http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/rwg/html/96/immig.html)]

• 2005: Estimate Of 525,000. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated that there were 525,000 illegal immigrants in New York City by 2005. [The New York Sun, 12/6/05]

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