Jerry Brown interview conducted May 31, 2006 by Leon Worden, Signal Senior Editor
GRADING: Brown's GOOD comments in BLUE Brown's BAD comments in RED Neutral Comments: Black
Signal: Let's touch a couple of hot buttons. Do we have an illegal immigration crisis?
Brown: Well, we've got a big problem. I'll tell you one thing we've got: We have 30,000 felons that we're paying for that are not citizens.
Signal: So what could you, as attorney general do about it?
Brown: I think we ought to have some kind of treaty with Mexico and El Salvador, and Russia, and wherever these people are from, that they should be in their own country. That's something we can do right off the (bat). We can't do it as attorney general, but I'm assuming that's something that we can look into.
Secondly, we're finding people in the streets of Oakland who are gang members that have committed felonies and they are undocumented. We need to send those people right back. What are they doing here?
And then thirdly, we do have this constant influx of people, and a society can only function with a certain loyalty and —ÝI (sic) don't want to say "homogeneous" quality, but we've got to be one, as a people, to be strong.
Now, we do welcome — we're a country of immigrants. My great-great-grandparents were immigrants. Most people's are. Or were, rather. We've got some pretty good ideas there in Congress. I think McCain and the Senate are more on the track; certainly I don't agree with the House of Representatives. And I think we've got to secure the border. We've got to find out how we deal with people who come here to work in a legal way. And we have to find a way people can earn citizenship. There is no one way. This is a difficult issue. But certainly as attorney general, I intend to enforce the law fairly, without fear or favor.
Jerry Brown
Running in 2006 for the california office of Attorney General
How is he on immigration,
Good or Bad?
Judge for yourself
The truth is that, beneath his left-wing rhetoric, Brown has a realistic, even conservative streak... More by Heather Mac Donald
