Before you jump down his throat, hear him out for a sec. As insane as the title sounds, it may be right – at least technically.

GLENN: Right. But isn’t illegal immigration a crime in and of itself?

GIULIANI: No.

GLENN: Aren’t you saying –

GIULIANI: Glenn –

GLENN: You’re protecting criminals by saying that being treated as a criminal is unfair.

GIULIANI: Glenn, it’s not a crime. I know that’s very hard for people to understand, but it’s not a federal crime.

GLENN: It’s a misdemeanor but if you’ve been nailed, it is a crime. If you’ve been nailed, ship back and come back, it is a crime.

GIULIANI: Glenn, being an illegal immigrant, the 400,000 were not prosecuted for crimes by the federal government, nor could they be. I was U.S. attorney in the southern district of New York. So believe me, I know this. In fact, when you throw an immigrant out of the country, it’s not a criminal proceeding. It’s a civil proceeding.

GLENN: Is it –

GIULIANI: One of the things that congress wanted to do a year ago is to make it a crime, which indicates that it isn’t.

GLENN: Should it be?

GIULIANI: Should it be? No, it shouldn’t be because the government wouldn’t be able to prosecute it. We couldn’t prosecute 12 million people. We have only 2 million people in jail right now for all the crimes that are committed in the country, 2.5 million. If you were to make it a crime, you would have to take the resources of the criminal justice system and increase it by about 6. In other words, you’d have to take all the 800,000 police, and who knows how many police we would have to have.

On the first part, he’s right. Unless they’ve committed an additional crime, it’s a civil proceeding. We put them on the other side of the border, and they don’t face jail time. That’s why so many try again.

The second part isn’t so clear-cut. Should it be? IMO, yes. However, logistically, Giuliani’s right. We’re not talking about deporting, but prosecuting (in a court) 12 million people. Again, we’re not talking about deporting – we’re talking about lawyers, court dates, etc. It took us years just to deport Arellano, and she’d already been convicted of Social Security fraud.

Giuliani goes on to say he wants to build a physical and technical fence, an id card not for citizens but for foreign visitors, and more.