Thread: ALIPAC: Activists say immigration issue ignored

Activists say immigration issue ignored

Thursday, October 23, 2008
BY ELIZABETH LLORENTE
STAFF WRITER
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Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have barely touched on last year's hottest national issue: immigration.

Activists on both sides of the debate have assailed the near absence of the issue in the campaign, saying it seems too much of a hot potato for either candidate. While the economy is, they say, justifiably eclipsing all else, they add that immigration had been ignored by both candidates long before the financial crisis.

"For the top two people running to lead this country not to address this issue — which is integral not only to the U.S. economy but the future character of this nation — is unconscionable," said Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, an immigration attorney who sits on Governor Corzine's Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy.

A spokesman for Obama said the senator's disproportionate focus on the economy simply is a response to voters' priorities.

"It's been bubbling up," Andrew Poag, spokesman for Obama's campaign in New Jersey, said of the economic crisis.

But in Morristown, Mayor Donald Cresitello, who favors strict immigration policies, said candidates should not ignore other important matters. In the past year, Cresitello has been one of the country's most vocal officials on the burden that federal inaction on illegal immigration has put on local communities.

"No one is saying they should not be focusing on the economy," Cresitello said, adding, "It's absurd to think that the candidates and the country should only focus on one issue at a time.

"Immigration and the economy are, by the way, interconnected. There's an underground economy; immigrant workers are being exploited. For the security of our country, too, we need to address immigration; we need to know who's here."

500,000 in N.J.

An estimated 12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States; about a half million in New Jersey. A comprehensive immigration reform measure that would have tightened enforcement and provided a path to legalization failed to win approval in Congress last year amid partisan battling.

As efforts to address reform at the federal level ran into dead ends, state and local officials have taken the matter into their own hands. Many have proposed or adopted ordinances that punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and suspend the licenses of small businesses that hire them. Most such efforts, however, foundered when challenged in court.

"Immigration is a federal matter, but local communities are shouldering the challenges," Wildes said. "And all there is from the candidates and federal government is inaction and a deafening silence."

Americans for Legal Immigration, a lobby that wants strict immigration enforcement, got so fed up with the scant attention paid to illegal immigration by both candidates that last week it launched a Web site called www.ObamaandMcCainstink.com, which offers disillusioned voters bumper stickers, buttons and yard signs that declare: "Both Obama and McCain stink."

In their voting records and Web sites, Obama and McCain have expressed similar views on immigration issues, leading many observers to complain there's no distinct choice. Obama and McCain agree with many key provisions in the ill-fated comprehensive immigration reform bill of last year. Both support stricter enforcement of immigration laws, as well as beefing up security along the nation's borders.

At the same time, they've also said they support a path to legalization for illegal immigrants who have otherwise broken no laws while living in the U.S.

Conservatives fume

The dual approach of enforcement and a chance at legalization sits well with many Democrats, but the most conservative faction of the Republican Party has condemned McCain for his support of a path to legalization, which they denounce as "amnesty for lawbreakers."

McCain angered the staunchest conservatives in his party when he co-sponsored an ambitious immigration reform bill with Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in 2005 that called for legalization for some undocumented immigrants, a guest worker program aimed at filling jobs that employers say they cannot find Americans to do, and enhanced border security.

His partnership on the bill, considered landmark legislation, received kudos from immigration advocacy groups and ethnic communities that tend to see the GOP as anti-immigrant. Although it never became law, it influenced subsequent proposals. But those same groups expressed anger after McCain last year began distancing himself from provisions in reform bills that were seen as going easy on illegal immigrants, and started focusing more on strict enforcement of the border.

"He's in a very difficult bind," said Amy Gottlieb of American Friends Service Committee in Newark. "Until his campaign for president, he was one of the Republicans most willing to engage in a real dialogue on immigration policy.

"Now he just says, 'We must first control the border,' before we talk about anything else about immigration."

Immigration advocates favor Obama, who in little-publicized speeches and on his Web site, has adopted a tone of sympathy for undocumented immigrants and their families, who often include U.S. citizens.

McCain the enforcer

Those who favor strict enforcement say that, despite his unpopular past stances on immigration, McCain would be more effective than Obama at repairing the country's broken immigration system.

"It does concern me that he was an author on the so-called amnesty bill," said Gayle Kesselman, co-chairwoman of the New Jersey Concerned Citizens for Immigration Control. "But he did say he understands that enforcement and border security have to come first."

"If you're on a fishing boat that has holes, you plug the holes first, you stop the hemorrhaging," said Kesselman, of Carlstadt.

"Then you look at what is best to do about some of the 12 million illegal immigrants who haven't gotten into trouble, have learned English and lived here a long time."

E-mail: llorente@northjersey.com
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Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have barely touched on last year's hottest national issue: immigration.

Activists on both sides of the debate have assailed the near absence of the issue in the campaign, saying it seems too much of a hot potato for either candidate. While the economy is, they say, justifiably eclipsing all else, they add that immigration had been ignored by both candidates long before the financial crisis.

"For the top two people running to lead this country not to address this issue — which is integral not only to the U.S. economy but the future character of this nation — is unconscionable," said Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, an immigration attorney who sits on Governor Corzine's Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy.

A spokesman for Obama said the senator's disproportionate focus on the economy simply is a response to voters' priorities.

"It's been bubbling up," Andrew Poag, spokesman for Obama's campaign in New Jersey, said of the economic crisis.

But in Morristown, Mayor Donald Cresitello, who favors strict immigration policies, said candidates should not ignore other important matters. In the past year, Cresitello has been one of the country's most vocal officials on the burden that federal inaction on illegal immigration has put on local communities.

"No one is saying they should not be focusing on the economy," Cresitello said, adding, "It's absurd to think that the candidates and the country should only focus on one issue at a time.

"Immigration and the economy are, by the way, interconnected. There's an underground economy; immigrant workers are being exploited. For the security of our country, too, we need to address immigration; we need to know who's here."

500,000 in N.J.

An estimated 12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States; about a half million in New Jersey. A comprehensive immigration reform measure that would have tightened enforcement and provided a path to legalization failed to win approval in Congress last year amid partisan battling.

As efforts to address reform at the federal level ran into dead ends, state and local officials have taken the matter into their own hands. Many have proposed or adopted ordinances that punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and suspend the licenses of small businesses that hire them. Most such efforts, however, foundered when challenged in court.

"Immigration is a federal matter, but local communities are shouldering the challenges," Wildes said. "And all there is from the candidates and federal government is inaction and a deafening silence."

Americans for Legal Immigration, a lobby that wants strict immigration enforcement, got so fed up with the scant attention paid to illegal immigration by both candidates that last week it launched a Web site called www.ObamaandMcCainstink.com, which offers disillusioned voters bumper stickers, buttons and yard signs that declare: "Both Obama and McCain stink."

In their voting records and Web sites, Obama and McCain have expressed similar views on immigration issues, leading many observers to complain there's no distinct choice. Obama and McCain agree with many key provisions in the ill-fated comprehensive immigration reform bill of last year. Both support stricter enforcement of immigration laws, as well as beefing up security along the nation's borders.

At the same time, they've also said they support a path to legalization for illegal immigrants who have otherwise broken no laws while living in the U.S.

Conservatives fume

The dual approach of enforcement and a chance at legalization sits well with many Democrats, but the most conservative faction of the Republican Party has condemned McCain for his support of a path to legalization, which they denounce as "amnesty for lawbreakers."

McCain angered the staunchest conservatives in his party when he co-sponsored an ambitious immigration reform bill with Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in 2005 that called for legalization for some undocumented immigrants, a guest worker program aimed at filling jobs that employers say they cannot find Americans to do, and enhanced border security.

His partnership on the bill, considered landmark legislation, received kudos from immigration advocacy groups and ethnic communities that tend to see the GOP as anti-immigrant. Although it never became law, it influenced subsequent proposals. But those same groups expressed anger after McCain last year began distancing himself from provisions in reform bills that were seen as going easy on illegal immigrants, and started focusing more on strict enforcement of the border.

"He's in a very difficult bind," said Amy Gottlieb of American Friends Service Committee in Newark. "Until his campaign for president, he was one of the Republicans most willing to engage in a real dialogue on immigration policy.

"Now he just says, 'We must first control the border,' before we talk about anything else about immigration."

Immigration advocates favor Obama, who in little-publicized speeches and on his Web site, has adopted a tone of sympathy for undocumented immigrants and their families, who often include U.S. citizens.

McCain the enforcer

Those who favor strict enforcement say that, despite his unpopular past stances on immigration, McCain would be more effective than Obama at repairing the country's broken immigration system.

"It does concern me that he was an author on the so-called amnesty bill," said Gayle Kesselman, co-chairwoman of the New Jersey Concerned Citizens for Immigration Control. "But he did say he understands that enforcement and border security have to come first."

"If you're on a fishing boat that has holes, you plug the holes first, you stop the hemorrhaging," said Kesselman, of Carlstadt.

"Then you look at what is best to do about some of the 12 million illegal immigrants who haven't gotten into trouble, have learned English and lived here a long time."

http://www.northjersey.com/news/electio ... c=y&page=1

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