http://www.nysun.com/article/28170

February 27, 2006 Edition > Section: New York > Printer-Friendly Version

'The More Irish ... The Better,' Schumer Says
BY DANIELA GERSON - Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 27, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/28170

When Senator McCain rolls into town for an immigration reform rally this evening, he will be joined by many of the city's Democratic congressional representatives, but New York's senators are not expected.

For months, national and local advocates have been frustrated that Senators Schumer and Clinton have not taken a public stance on the sensitive issue of changes in the nation's immigration laws. Then last week, news got out that Mr. Schumer had broken his silence in a speech to a newly formed Irish group, publicly pledging to support an earned legalization program and criticizing a House immigration bill.

"I love America, and I truly believe that the more Irish there are here, the better America is," Mr. Schumer said at a meeting of nearly 1,000 Irish immigrants in Queens on February 17, organized by the New York-based Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, according to the Irish Voice. The newspaper reported that Mr. Schumer was greeted with two standing ovations and raucous applause.

Advocates were pleased to hear of Mr. Schumer's commitment to a policy that would enable illegal immigrants to receive permanent residency, but many leaders said they were upset that he did not come forward sooner, or use a broader-based platform to express his views.

"I'm glad to hear him say it in a small meeting. Now I'd like it to be in a voice that all of New York could hear," a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Tamar Jacoby, said, noting Mr. Schumer will play an important role because he is on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will consider immigration in the coming weeks. "Good first step, but now pick up the big microphone," she said.

The Irish government, which is helping fund efforts to lobby Washington on immigration reform, estimates there are more than 40,000 illegal Irish immigrants in America. "The worst thing we could do," Mr. Schumer said at the meeting, "is close the door, not only for those who want to come, but for those who are already here."

Comprehensive immigration reform, Mr. Schumer said, should include a way for illegal immigrants to earn permanent legal status, but he emphasized, "It should be earned citizenship and not a free ride ... People will have to pay taxes and obey the law and show loyalty to this great country."

While immigrant advocates by and large welcomed Mr. Schumer's position, some felt slighted by the presentation to the Irish.

Monami Maulik, a leader of an umbrella group representing 20 organizations with about 45,000 members, Immigrant Communities in Action, said Mr. Schumer's visit first to Irish immigrants is "sending an unfortunate message to immigrants of color." Noting that her coalition has been around for more than a year, and the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform was created only three months ago, Ms. Maulik said, "Schumer had obviously given the priority to be at this Irish immigration reform campaign meeting, whereas our coalition has been reaching out to him for a while."

Although members of Immigrant Communities in Action had a long meeting with a Schumer staffer who outlined the senator's commitment to immigration reform a week before the speech to the Irish group, Ms. Maulik said they wanted to hear directly from the senator.

Resentment was exacerbated when the immigrant coalition tried to push this message at a protest in front of Mr. Schumer's New York office. On Valentine's Day, African, Hispanic, and Asian immigrants arrived at Mr. Schumer's office with hundreds of cards outlining their position on immigration reform, including their opposition to guest worker programs. When they attempted to enter the building to present the senator with the cards, a security guard said the police would be called on the small delegation, which included elderly and illegal immigrants.

Mr. Schumer's office would not comment on the incident.

"If he is committed to a permanent path to legalization, our communities need to hear it," Ms. Maulik said. In a conversation with a staffer, she said she was told it was just a coincidence Mr. Schumer spoke to the Irish first. Either way, Ms. Maulik said she would like Mr. Schumer to join her group at a town hall meeting later this month. "With the bill that is being put out by the committee right now, it's looking very scary - so the time is very critical," she said.

On Friday, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter, a Republican of Pennsylvania, released draft legislation that includes a guest worker program and some strong enforcement measures passed in House legislation last year.

It did not include many of the measures in the McCain-Kennedy bill, which has generally been the most popular with New York immigrants from diverse backgrounds because, among other things, it would enable millions of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in America to gain permanent legal residency.

At tonight's rally, scheduled for 5 p.m. at a Service Employees International Union Hall at 101 Sixth Ave., about 1,000 people are expected to turn out in support of the legislation. The speech is the midway point on a tour promoting immigration reform in the major centers of Miami, New York, and Los Angeles, and is timed to coincide with the Senate schedule, which will take up immigration reform this week.

Meanwhile, when the Judiciary Committee begins debate, New York's immigrant leaders will look to Mr. Schumer, who still has not endorsed specific legislation, to take a leading role.

"What we need to see going forward is our Democratic senator on the Judiciary Committee speaking out often and boldly in favor of comprehensive immigration reform and a path to earned legalization," the deputy director for immigration advocacy and training at the New York Immigration Coalition, Julie Dinnerstein, said.