Giuliani: “We can end illegal immigration”

MISSION — Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani struck an upbeat tone on the possibility of ending illegal immigration on Monday during a trip to the Rio Grande Valley.

His announcement came as Mission police cruisers stood behind him, U.S. Border Patrol boats swarmed in the background and Winter Texans strained on tiptoes to grab his photo on their cellphone cameras.

After surveying the border during a morning drive near Anzalduas Dam, Giuliani said seeing the Rio Grande reassured him a combination of high-tech surveillance tactics and stretches of fencing could reduce illegal border crossings.

“If we had the national will, we could end illegal immigration and expand legal immigration,” he said.

The former New York City mayor stopped at Chimney Park, an RV park along the Rio Grande in Mission, before heading to a private fundraiser at the McAllen Country Club.

Giuliani is the first major party presidential candidate to appear publicly in the Valley since Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich appeared in 2004, well after Democratic rival Sen. John Kerry had sown up his party’s nomination.

Giuliani has campaigned heavily on his experience after 9/11 when he was mayor of New York and is a vocal advocate of a border wall as a way to secure the nation’s borders.

“There’s some places where a physical fence would work, some places a virtual fence would work. ... In some ways, the virtual fence is more valuable,” he said.

When asked how he would secure the section of the border around the park, Giuliani said a system of night-vision and heat-seeking cameras trained on the Mexican bank of the Rio Grande could alert Border Patrol agents to movement without restricting the United States’ use of the river.

Chimney Park has a boat ramp and is a frequent site of illegal crossings in both directions.

“It’s about prediction,” he said. “The Border Patrol is trying to guess where people are going to cross. This system would make that guess more strategic, better informed.”

A camera system “doesn’t mean you’re going to pick up every single one of them, but you learn from it.”

Eventually, he said, “you change behavior. People realize they can’t cross there anymore.”

J.R. Lewis, a resident of the park, said he got a chance to greet the 62-year-old candidate before the brief press conference.

“When I shook his hand, I told him he’s got my vote,” he said.

Other residents said he hadn’t answered all their questions.

“I wanted to know if he wanted to make English the national language,” said Ed Augustine.

JoAnn Birchare, a Winter Texan from Iowa, said she is planning to vote for U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY.

However, “if it would be a Republican, he would probably be the best one,” she said of Giuliani.

Looking across the park’s shuffleboard courts toward the river, she said “I don’t understand how (the virtual fence) is going to work.”

“Where’s the money going to come from?”

Giuliani arrived in McAllen around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, a phalanx of staffers and traveling press corps in tow. The entourage stayed overnight at Renaissance Casa de Palmas in McAllen and continued to a fundraiser in San Antonio after lunch.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., native holds a commanding lead in the Texas Republican primary, according to a recent phone poll commissioned by Austin political blog “the Burnt Orange Report.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee trail him in the Lone Star state by around seven percentage points. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, ahead of Huckabee and Thompson in most national polls, trails four points behind those candidates.

Sen. Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards have visited the Valley for private fundraisers this election cycle, but did not make public appearances.