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Fred Thompson on Immigration
This candidate has withdrawn from the election
You're going to have to, in some way, work out a deal where they can have some aspirations of citizenship but not make it so easy that it's unfair to the people waiting in line and abiding by the law.
[Thompson] opposes blanket amnesty programs, but willing to consider allowing some illegal immigrants to earn citizenship without being unfair to those here legally.
Voted YES to create a national registry containing names of U.S. workers who want to perform temporary or seasonal agricultural work, and to require the Attorney General to allow more foreign workers into the U.S. for farm work under H-2A visas.
However, in the Senate, Thompson voted in 1998 for a bill that established a temporary farm worker program, similar to the guest worker program supported by Bush.
``The only way to solve the illegal immigration, build a barrier and have a non-tamper-proof ID system." He added he supports erecting a fence along the border.
"We know that the overwhelming majority of illegals come across the Mexican border. Fortunately, we've got someone who is all too willing to tell us what we should do about it - the president of Mexico Philipe Calderon. President Calderon doesn't think much of our border policies. He criticizes our efforts to secure the border with things such as border fencing. He says that bottle necks at U.S. checkpoints hurt Mexican commerce and force his citizens to migrate illegally in order to make a living (and of course send money back to Mexico)...A sovereign nation loses that status if it cannot secure its own borders and we are going to do whatever is necessary to do so, although our policies won't be as harsh as yours are along your southern border. And criticizing the U.S. for alternately doing too much and too little to stop your illegal activities is not going to set too well with Americans of good will who are trying to figure a way out of the mess that your and our open borders policy has already created."
Q: Will you finish the wall on our southern border? THOMPSON: We not only should, but we can. The law requires it...it is definitely part of the solution. We need additional wall. We also need to use electronic surveillance...but I think the point here for anybody running for president to make is that it is not a matter can we do it? Of course we can do it. It is a matter of will. We simply haven't had the will in this country, at the leadership, to do the job. And we have to do it. It is not only the right thing to do, but it is a matter of national security now.
We have the right to keep criminal predators out of our home. Those who want to immigrate into America need to knock, identify themselves, and ask permission first. They will not do so though if we can't even ask who they are, which is prevented in sanctuary cities. Now I am a strong federalist, but immigration is a responsibility of the federal government, and the failures of local officials to enforce our national laws have a direct impact on communities around the country. So federal law must be enforced, or our neighborhoods will continue to be the scene of chilling and lurid crimes committed by those who broke the law in the first place to come to America.
Former Sen. Thompson voted as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee YES on the Hatch Amendment to S. 1664. The Hatch Amendment stripped the provision from S. 1664 that increased fines against businesses that hire illegal aliens.
Thompson said he didn't favor tougher penalties for businesses who employ illegal workers. 'I think the issue now has to do more with enforcement,' he said.
"We need to punish employers who won't obey the law" - Question 3
When asked at at the June 2007 Republican CNN debate which candidates support English as the national language, all were in favor except McCain.