Christie suggests FedEx-like tracking of immigrants

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie Sunday defended his controversial proposal to keep tabs on immigrants electronically the way FedEx tracks packages.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Christie denied he was suggesting "people are packages. Don't be ridiculous."

"Let's use the same type of technology to make sure that 40% of the 11 million people here illegally don't overstay," he said.

Immigration has emerged as a dominant issue in the Republican race since billionaire and frontrunner Donald Trump launched his campaign in June with incendiary accusations that Mexican immigrants were drug traffickers and rapists.

Christie's FedEx tracking proposal raised eyebrows after he mentioned it at a rally Saturday night in New Hampshire.

He called for a system that tracks immigrants from the moment they arrive, arguing that 40 percent in the United States illegally entered with a valid visa and then disappeared.

"However long your visa is, then we go get you," Christie was quoted as saying by the New York Times. "We tap you on the shoulder and say, 'Excuse me. Thanks for coming. Time to go.'"

In his comments to Fox, the New Jersey governor lamented that the government was not as quick as the private sector in using technology to solve problems like illegal immigration.

"We can do it. And we can bring in the folks from FedEx to use the technology to do it. There's nothing wrong with that," he said.

Christie, who has struggled to gain traction in the crowded race for the Republican nomination, polled at just two percent in the closely watched Iowa contest, 11th in a 17-candidate field, according to a new poll by the Des Moines Register.
Source: AFP