New York City Mayor Tells Police and Other Officials Not to Report Undocumented Immigrants to the INS.  (Bischoff 309-312)

Rudolph Giuliani, Republican Mayor of New York City, whose population includes large numbers of foreign-born, in 1997 wrote about his own political party’s congressional efforts to increase enforcement of laws against undocumented immigrants.  Giuliani organized opposition against these laws, challenged some of their provisions in the courts, and directed the police and other New York City officials not to report the undocumented with whom they came into contact to the INS.  Giuliani praised immigrants as contributing significantly to New York City’s successes and affluence.  This type of comparison can be applied to large cities over the U.S with high populations of undocumented immigrants.

Excerpt from his speech

Today on Ellis Island, the golden door through which millions of immigrants passed on their way to a new life in a new land, I will gather with a cross-section of Americans to inaugurate the Immigration Coalition.  The group includes business leaders, educators, writers, artists and representatives of virtually every ethnic community in the nation’s most diverse city. 

In return for the privileges of American residency, immigrants pay federal, state and local taxes at the same rate as American citizens.  But under the new laws, legal immigrants are denied disability benefits and food stamps, and states may also refuse them welfare assistance and non-emergency medical care.  Withholding these benefits from immigrants, who are here legally and whose taxes help pay for these very programs, is arguably unconstitutional- and certainly inequitable. 

Census data show that immigrants in New York work and own business in slightly higher percentages than U.S citizens.  They bring new ideas, new energy and an appreciation for American values and ideals.  New York is the nation’s richest, most successful city, and its’ no coincidence that New York is the nation’s greatest city of immigrants.  We must lead the way to a deeper national understanding of immigration.  By doing so, we will protect our economic interests, the health and humanity on which America was founded.