Tough talk on immigration works up crowd in suburb

Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007 | 1:14 a.m.

With the subject of illegal immigration still fresh in the air after Thursday's Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, Republican Mitt Romney said Saturday that if elected president he would stop the "sanctuary state of mind" he claims is perpetuated by measures such as giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

Speaking to a crowd of more than 200 at a town hall event in Henderson, Romney said he would cut federal funding for cities that have "sanctuary" policies, slash highway funds for states that give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and reduce education funding for states that award in-state college tuition to "kids of illegal immigrants."

He said he also favors issuing employment verification cards to legal immigrants.

All aspects of his proposal - disclosed in response to a question on illegal immigration, a hot button issue for Republican primary voters - received hearty applause from the crowd. The issue also came up in a campaign appearance before the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Friday.

The question of whether illegal immigrants should be given driver's licenses made headlines after Sen. Hillary Clinton stumbled when asked whether she supported New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's now-defunct plan to do so. The issue surfaced again in Thursday's debate, tripping up Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards.

After a nuanced answer, Obama said he supported the measure. Edwards said he favored it only as part of comprehensive immigration reform. Clinton offered a succinct "no."

The issue holds particular resonance in Nevada, where Gov. Jim Gibbons attacked his challenger in last year's election, state Sen. Dina Titus, by incorrectly claiming in campaign ads that she favored such a policy.

Pressed on the education part of his proposal, Romney told reporters "it doesn't make sense to give a tuition break to children of illegal immigrants," before clarifying that he meant students who were here illegally. Children who are born here, and therefore are U.S. citizens, could have parents who are undocumented.

The Nevada System of Higher Education does not specifically consider a student's or his parents' citizenship when determining residency for tuition purposes.

Romney delivered his standard stump speech, centered on the theme of strengthening the country's military, its economy and its families, and sought to draw a distinction between him and the Democratic field, naming Clinton in particular.

"I don't want to go down the road of big government, big taxes and Big Brother," he said.

He also highlighted his proposal to eliminate the "death tax," make the Bush tax cuts permanent, lower corporate income taxes and enact what he calls a "tax-free saving plan," wherein those making $200,000 or less would not be taxed on interest, capital gains and dividends. He also vowed to increase military spending to 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product - by his count, an additional $30 �billion to $40 �billion annually.

Afterward, Romney told reporters that he's taking Nevada seriously because it could be the critical swing state in the general election.

While former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani leads in national polls, Romney is ahead in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. A recent CNN/Opinion Research poll put him in second place in Nevada, with 21 percent support, about 8 points behind Giuliani.