WASHINGTON — Mayor Bloomberg singled out for praise three Republicans — Senator McCain, Michael Huckabee, and President Bush — for their positions on immigration, suggesting they have been more “pro-immigration” than the Democratic presidential candidates.
“In terms of immigration policy, the ones who have stood out, interestingly enough, are the three Republicans. Huckabee and McCain and President Bush have all been much more pro-immigration than the other candidates,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters here yesterday in response to a question from The New York Sun about his opinion on the immigration stances of Mr. McCain and senators Clinton and Obama. “Now hopefully the other candidates are starting to understand the value of immigration and changing.”

Messrs. McCain and Huckabee have checkered histories on the hot-button issue. The Arizona senator championed a Senate bill backed by Mr. Bush that offered a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million people in America illegally. His position nearly derailed his campaign, and he now says he would focus on border enforcement first before addressing the illegal immigrants already in the country.

At a Republican debate last fall, Mr. Huckabee delivered an impassioned defense of his much-criticized support for giving in-state tuition breaks to the children of illegal immigrants in Arkansas. He took a much harder line when he unveiled an immigration policy proposal in December that would force all illegal immigrants to return to their home country before applying for legal status.

A spokesman for the mayor, Stuart Loeser, said afterward that Mr. Bloomberg was complimenting their willingness to buck the party orthodoxy on the issue rather than their specific policy proposals. Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama broadly supported the president’s comprehensive immigration bill, which was backed by the Democratic leadership.

After a speech to the World Bank here, the mayor dodged a question about whether he would want to succeed the bank’s president, Robert Zoellick, when his term ends in 2012. Mr. Bloomberg, who listed the position as one of his dream jobs in years past, praised Mr. Zoellick’s leadership and said he doubted he would be considered for it. He did add a moment later, however, that it was “a great job.”