Non-crime criminals

Wrong answer, Rudy.

But Giuliani’s “I don’t care” attitude toward illegals sometimes morphed into unabashed cheerleading, as if he were rolling out the red carpet for them.

“Some of the hardest-working and most productive people in this city are undocumented aliens,” the mayor said at a 1994 press conference. “If you come here and you work hard and 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, and we want you to get out from under what is often a life of being like a fugitive, which is really unfair.”

The Examiner asked Giuliani why it was unfair to apply fugitive status to someone who broke the law to enter the United States.

“We were going to treat them as a fugitive if they committed a crime,” he replied. “And we weren’t going to treat them like a fugitive if they were being calm and responsible and decent.

“And finally, it didn’t much matter what I did with them,” he added. “The turning over of names to the immigration service was a mere formal act. It was absurd to think that they could possibly handle it. It continues to be absurd.

The problem comes with the "it doesn't matter anyway" attitude. We can never gain control of the problem if we keep saying it's OK to come and work hard- even if you come illegally. I understand the idea of taking baby steps to get somewhere in what seems like an impossible situation - and securing the Mexico-US border is a good start. But it doesn't mean we can be so complacent.

I want people to have the same American dream my great grandparents, grandparents, and own mother and father enjoyed- which I too now pursue. But we all have to wait in line at some point in life. Even if they're not committing crimes here, they already committed the greatest one. Sending the message that we want the work of illegals is the wrong one to send to our own citizens and other countries.