Possible Clinton replacement favors crackdown on illegal immigration

[DemFromMem]

Source: Orange County Register

The political drama over Caroline Kennedy’s withdrawal from the running to become Hillary Rodham Clinton’s replacement as the junior senator from New York has now drawn immigration advocates into the fray.

I got a call a little while ago from Irvine immigration lawyer Angelo Paparelli who told me that upstate New York Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, who the New York papers are saying could be the frontrunner to replace Clinton, has signed on to a bill that would crack down on illegal immigration and likely opposes comprehensive immigration reform.

New York Gov. David Paterson is expected to name Clinton’s successor tomorrow.

Gillibrand is a cosponsor of the SAVE Act. This bill, sponsored by North Carolina Democrat Heath Shuler, would add 8,000 border patrol agents, require employer verification of worker status and complete the fence along the border. Immigration advocates vehemently oppose the bill.

Read more: http://totalbuzz.freedomblogging.com/2009/01/22/possible-clinton-replacement-favors-crackdown-on-illegal-immigration/12522/

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How exactly do you carry the immigrant vote - crucial to any Democrat's chances of winning in NY - with a record like this?

[ShortnFiery]

1. Terrific! Less tolerance ... that's the ticket = move our Party more to the right in The Senate

:crazy:

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Not such a great choice. I would have preferred Andrew Cuomo.

I think Paterson is thinking more about his own future and not the country...

[bertman]

3. I'm all for LEGAL immigration and an amnesty for those who have been here illegally

but who are not lawbreakers. But I am very much in favor of doing all we can to STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. So she sounds like a good choice to me.

[Politicalboi]

4. If you were here Illegally

Then you broke the law. Illegal immigration hurts everyone who tries to do it right. Everyone here knows what it's like to wait in a long line. Well after hours of waiting a shit load of people cut in front of you and you miss out as they close the window just before you get there. You would have made it had they not cut in front of you. How fair is that? It's sad that we have to resort to arresting people for immigration laws. But they knew the risk. To do otherwise is cheating others who do it right. I don't understand the leniency towards illegal immigrants here.

[cabluedem]

5. Americans need jobs. Send these ilegals back home! nt

[Javaman]

18. LOLOLOLOL

you live in California, who do you think picks your fruit and veggies?

or do you think they grow right in the supermarket?

here's what to do, arrest and heavily fine the people who hire them. Period.

then offer the work to the homeless.

rounding up illegals and sending them home only does two thing, 1) it doesn't stop illegal immigration 2) it drives up our taxes because it cost money to ship them back.

if there is no jobs to be had, because employers aren't hiring them, they go back on their own.

See, not so hard now, is it?

[Chulanowa]

6. If only America's immigration laws weren't racist

We'll let in anyone... so long as they're white.

[DUlover2909]

9. Do the immigration laws really favor whites? I've never heard that.

I am just curious. I don't know everything about immigration issues.

[Javaman]

19. Um, what?

please provide proof other than your own hyperbole.

[getthefacts]

20. Chulanowa

Maybe is talking about immigration law before the Immigration Act of 1965 (maybe 52), when a person with 'one drop negro blood' could not become a citizen. Today, many refer to the quotas on Mexico and China migrants as a racist policy.

[Ikonoklast]

23. Tell my BIL that, he'd be surprised to hear it.

He's a Spanish national, and is whiter than me.

He would have to wait years to legally immigrate here.

[bottomtheweaver]

7. Not a good sign.

There are already more than enough DINOs in the Senate ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with Blackwater, KBR and Exxon Mobil in the great war on whatever the AEI rolls out next year.

[Justitia]

8. I also read she's a 'Blue Dog' and a good friend of the NRA. Sounds lovely.

:sarcasm:

She'll most likely never win downstate, and NY will lose her current seat (conservative area) to a repug.

The pooch is screwed all the way around.

[SoCalDem]

10. The economy may "solve" a lot of THAT issue

Around here, people are heading back to mexico..Job loss here is harder to endure than in Mexico where they often have large extended families..

[yellowwood]

11. It's Not All about Winning

Why would "immigrants" support illegal immigration? They would want to live in an orderly country. A country which can't control its borders would end up in chaos.

I like the idea that a politician would stand up for what's right, not necessarily what's vote-getting.

Being "liberal" or "progressive" doesn't mean that one should support illegal causes. I take it that we should take better care of the people who are already citizens of the country, a big enough job in itself.

[WonderGrunion]

12. Other than the fence

Which is a frivolous expensive ineffective symbol. I don't have a huge issue with those stances. Immigration really needs to crack down on employers that don't take steps to insure that their employees are legal citizens. After all, the hiring of illegal immigrants is really about circumventing wage and tax laws and breaking up unions. It has nothing to do with hiring poor people that need the money.

[ejpoeta]

14. i agree that we need to ensure that employees, be they legal or not,

are paid correctly. this means that the employer wouldn't bother trying to circumvent the laws to have illegal residents working in their employ. if they had to pay them the same as everyone else.

[ejpoeta]

13. what the hell is wrong with patterson!!! i hope the reports are wrong.

this lady doesn't sound like someone i want as my senator. but, perhaps patterson is thinking about the folks in my area. it is horrible how republican it is around here. people around here think 'those people' in nyc are stealing all our tax money in upstate ny. that's not the type of person i want as my senator.

[olegramps]

15. Since when did illegal immigrants begin voting?

[olegramps]

16. If you are for illegal immigration then:

I would have to conclude that you favor the situation where greedy corporations take advantage of these illegal immigrants to pay them peon wages and provide them with no benefits.

She sounds like my kind of candidate. The hiring of illegal Mexican immigrants in the home building industry became so rampant that American citizens couldn't get hired. An example of the situation was demonstrated when a highly qualified carpenter with years of experience applied for a supervisory position with one of largest builders in our area he was turned down because he didn't speak Spanish.

It has often been alleged that Americans would not do certain jobs, but when the Swift Meat Packing plant here was raided and the illegals arrested the next day there were five American citizens applying for everyone of those vacated jobs at the Greeley, CO plant. The amount of money that is transferred to Mexico every day is staggering. This is money that has been earned in the U.S. and instead of being used to buy American products and services it is used to prop up the Mexican economy. What about the illegals that fill our prisons? What about the violent street gangs? I hope that they hire 80,000 agents and that they seal the border. It sure as hell would be more productive than the Iraq war.

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. Sound more like a crackdown on the employers of illegal immigrants

If they actually have to verify that everyone who is working for them is legal, they will no longer be able to claim ignorance to avoid punishment.

[getthefacts]

21. Immigrants do vote

Once they become a citizen. The Latino vote greatly contributed to victories in Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado. I'm willing to bet that if McCain wasn't the Repub candidate, Arizona would also have fallen into the democratic column.

Regarding Illegal immigration: many people who are out of status in the country did not cross the Mexico border. They came here willing to follow the complex myriad of laws and become a legal resident. Many times, the system will push people into the shadows because of major bureaucracy, unreasonable waiting periods, and laws that make little sense.

It is also very easy now to condemn people who were working illegally here because the economy is on the toilet. They feed us in restaurants, they pick our food, they clean our malls. I believe immigration reform would actually help our nation's economy because it would encourage many of these immigrants to invest more in the US (most of them don't want to leave anyway).

[jmg257]

22. Sounds like she is batting a 1000; pro-gay, pro-gun, pro-immigration reform, pro-choice,

pro-rights, and not too bad looking.

So far, a REALLY good choice.

From wiki...

"She is an outspoken advocate for gun rights and has a 100% positive rating from the NRA, but has also worked to strengthen legislation to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

She supports same-sex marriage, abortion rights, stem cell research, and the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act.

She received a 100% rating from the American Civil Liberties Union. Gillibrand supports extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for middle class families and opposes attempts to partially privatize Social Security.

She strongly supported passage of the 2008 Farm Bill.

Gillibrand broke with former Governor Eliot Spitzer on the issue of illegal immigration, opposing his plan to issue New York State drivers licenses to illegal immigrants."