Fred Thompson to Be Hit on Immigration
September 5, 2007
You can already see the storm coming. Fred Thompson is going to be hammered by rival campaigns on the immigration issue. Read below from a Washington Times story from today:
Some votes are likely to draw scrutiny, particularly a series of votes in the 1990s against cracking down on illegal aliens. Those include a 1995 vote against limiting services other than emergency care and public education to illegal aliens - he was one of just six senators to oppose that proposal - and a 1996 vote against creating an employer verification system to help businesses filter out illegal aliens who apply for jobs....
But on immigration, Mr. Thompson had several votes where he bucked the pack - and seemed to favor illegal aliens.
The most stark example was his 1995 vote on the welfare overhaul, when he voted to preserve illegal aliens' ability to receive federal benefits. He was one of just six senators to vote that way, joining four other Republicans and one Democrat.
And in 1996, as Congress considered a crackdown on illegal aliens, Mr. Thompson voted against setting up a system so employers could verify the legal status of their workers.
An adviser to the campaign on immigration matters, who asked not to be named, said Mr. Thompson had concerns about how broadly the public-benefits provision was drawn. As for the employer verification system, the adviser said Mr. Thompson joined a majority of Republicans in the chamber in opposing it, with many of them thinking the new system would lead to a national ID card.
The Thompson campaign is going to be aggressive fighting back on this. They are already sending out fact check releases on the immigration issue. They point out that he opposed the McCain-Kennedy Immigration bill and opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants. The campaign released this statement as well:
"Senator Fred Thompson has been a consistent supporter of conservative immigration proposals that would improve border security; eliminate incentives for illegal immigrants to come to the United States and obtain welfare benefits; and strengthen employment verification procedures. He has an "A+" rating from Americans for Better Immigration for his senate voting record on border security issues."
I expect Romney and Giuliani to go after Thompson on the immigration issue. For months, both of them have been trying to outflank each other on the right when it comes to the immigration issue. They can't afford to let Thompson look tougher on this issue. He already has a perception going in that he's this "true blue conservative". If Thompson gets an edge on the very important topic of immigration, then it makes it that much tougher for them.
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