Is This the New GOP Strategy? Romney Rails Against ‘Sanctuary Cities’. . . That He Presided Over as Governor of Mass.

Smooth talking Mitt Romney's attacking Rudy Giuliani for something he did in Massachusetts.

"Romney's being a hypocrite on this issue," said Joseph Curtatone, the Democratic mayor of Somerville since 2004. "I did not receive any mandate, any communication, anything at all from him about this. If it's so important to him why didn't he have the state police enforcing it?" Curtatone, president of the Massachusetts Mayors Association, adds that his May 2006 declaration of Somerville as a "city of hope" committed to providing services to illegal immigrants was just official recognition of what exists everywhere in his state. "I don't know of any community in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts -- whether by official declaration or by their action -- who has not adopted the same policy," he said. I never heard Gov. Romney bring it up one way or another." Romney aides talk about the governor's agreement with the federal government to allow Massachusetts state troopers to arrest and seek the deportation of illegal immigrants. What they don't emphasize, however, is the fact that that agreement was reached in the closing days of his term, in December 2006, and was immediately rescinded by his replacement, Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick. The 30 state troopers initially assigned to receive specialized training from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency never received their training. Other Romney critics questioning his commitment to this issue point out that, though Romney decried as "amnesty" the 2007 immigration reform measure that failed in the Senate, in 2005 and 2006, Romney voiced support for the more liberal versions of the bill. A Boston Globe investigation indicated that illegal immigrants from Guatemala did landscaping at Romney's mansion for a decade, with nary an inquiry from the governor about their immigration status. And according to the Pew Hispanic Center, Massachusetts' illegal immigrant population exploded during Romney's one gubernatorial term.