Thread: MA: On immigration, Patrick is measured (ALIPAC mentioned)

On immigration, Patrick is measured
In contrast to ’06, tries to appeal to both sides
By Maria Sacchetti and Marissa Lang
July 22, 2010

Governor Deval Patrick did not flinch when, during his historic campaign four years ago, he was asked if he favored allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. Many Democrats avoided the explosive issue, but Patrick said issuing licenses was safer than having untrained and uninsured drivers on the road.

Tweet Be the first to Tweet this!Submit to DiggdiggYahoo! Buzz ShareThis “People do what they have to do to survive,’’ he said at a debate in 2006. “That’s a fact of life.’’

After his inauguration, Patrick did not raise the issue. The state representative who had championed the legislation said they never discussed it. And Patrick did not include it on a list of policy initiatives for the next 12 months, even though immigrants said last year in a report he commissioned that obtaining driver’s licenses was their top concern.

Patrick’s approach to illegal immigration has undergone a marked shift, from populist to pragmatic, at a time when the national battle over the issue has exploded in Arizona and spread to Massachusetts.

Four years ago, he said he would sign a driver’s license bill and expressed admiration for hard-working undocumented immigrants. In this campaign, his initiatives on behalf of immigrants are less controversial, and he is more measured in his public positions on the issue. Mainly he is defending the status quo — for example, refusing to allow State Police to enforce federal immigration laws, despite criticism from opponents who are pushing for a tougher role.

“From a political perspective, I don’t blame him at all,’’ said state Representative Eugene O’Flaherty, the Chelsea Democrat who had sponsored the driver’s license measure but dropped it after it became clear that it would not budge. “This is a very difficult issue. . . . Anybody that’s willing to show any sign of compromise, electorally, you may not see them again.’’

Patrick has tried to appeal to both sides of the debate.

In May, he criticized Arizona’s strict new immigration law, which ignited controversy in Massachusetts over whether illegal immigrants were receiving state benefits. Patrick said state residents were “justifiably concerned,’’ but asserted that screens were already in place to prevent such immigrants from getting state benefits.

Patrick was more passionate about immigrants in an interview later that month with a Spanish-language website, LasParceritas.com, whose interviewer brought him chocolates and empanadas as a gift.

“People who come here illegally, or overstay their visas, or what have you, they want what we want,’’ Patrick said, according to the video. “They want the same American dream that I grew up wanting. They want to make a better way for themselves and their families. They want to contribute. That’s the other thing. They’re not just taking, they’re giving.’’

The governor did not grant multiple requests for an interview for this story.

In a written statement, Patrick said immigrants should be treated “the way Scripture teaches us to treat them.’’ He said he “has done more than any of my recent predecessors’’ to integrate immigrants into the state.

“I also think when it comes to illegal immigration we have a responsibility to enforce the rules and laws in place relative to screening for eligibility for public benefits, and I fully accept that responsibility,’’ he said in the statement. “In the end, illegal immigration is a national problem that requires a national solution, which is why I and others have supported the idea of comprehensive immigration reform in the Congress.’’

Supporters praise Patrick for sticking to his ideals — even if in a more pragmatic way — when others are abandoning them.

Shortly after the Arizona law passed in April, the Democrat-controlled House in Massachusetts narrowly defeated a budget amendment to bar illegal immigrants from receiving state benefits, a measure they had easily scuttled the previous year. Then, in May, the Democrat-led Senate passed even stricter measures.

“What the governor has done is that he has held the line,’’ said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum in Washington. “It would be very easy right now for Governor Patrick to go with the wind and put immigrants under the bus.’’

Patrick’s critics say he is weak on enforcement. Shortly after he took office, he overturned a pact by former governor Mitt Romney to assign 30 state troopers to help enforce federal immigration law. Patrick ordered the state prisons to screen for illegal immigrants instead.

Patrick’s challengers for governor, Republican candidate Charles D. Baker and independent Timothy P. Cahill, have said they would reinstate Romney’s plan.

They raised the issue after Isaias Naranjo, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, rear-ended a state representative in May, allegedly while driving drunk.

William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, a national organization that opposes illegal immigration, said his members are outraged by the Naranjo case. “Governor Deval is the biggest laughing stock of a governor in the country right now,’’ he said.

Other critics were more measured, saying they felt that Patrick listened to both sides. Last month, he signed a budget that bars illegal immigrants from receiving state benefits and punishes state contractors that hire them.

“We all would have expected him to take a very strong position suggesting rights for illegals, and I don’t think that’s the path he’s taken,’’ said Steve Kropper, cochairman of Massachusetts Citizens for Immigration Reform. “My sense is the governor has wisely used his political capital for more important issues. Because remember, as a camp, illegal immigrants don’t vote.’’

Patrick sought to shift the debate from illegal immigration in 2008 when he launched a program to better integrate the nearly 920,000 immigrants in Massachusetts, 14 percent of the state’s population. About 1 in 5 are here illegally.

Under his New Americans Agenda, the administration and nonprofit groups held public meetings across the state to hear immigrants’ concerns. They crafted 131 policy recommendations in a report released in November.

“He’s the first governor I’ve seen in 10 years who saw the big picture and understood really the economic benefit of the foreign born for the commonwealth,’’ said Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.

According to the November report, the top three issues cited at the meetings were driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, followed by in-state tuition at public colleges for undocumented youths and more English classes for all.

This month, his administration released a list of priorities on immigration for the coming year.

Driver’s licenses are not on the list.

Instead, officials crafted about 20 initiatives, including creating a task force to eliminate the statewide wait list for English classes and strengthening efforts to pass an in-state tuition law — probably the most controversial issue.

Last weekend, as he left a campaign stop in Chelsea, Patrick told reporters he still supports issuing driver’s licenses. But he said the state cannot act because federal law sets strict guidelines for state identification.

“We can’t do licenses until federal legislation changes,’’ Patrick said. “I still think it’s the right thing to do.’’

However, New Mexico, one of the few states to grant licenses to illegal immigrants, has said it plans to continue its program despite federal law.

Caroline Murray, who organized one of Patrick’s largest immigrant meetings, in Springfield, said she understands why the governor has not pushed the envelope.

“I’m not looking for Governor Patrick to drive a stake in his back because he’s one of the only courageous politicians in Massachusetts,’’ said Murray, executive director of the Alliance to Develop Power, a statewide nonprofit that advocates for workers.

But others were disappointed that Patrick’s voice has not been stronger.

“The problem is still happening,’’ said Alicia Alvez, a legal immigrant from Uruguay who spoke at an immigrant meeting in Fitchburg, where the city’s police chief stirred controversy by publicly favoring driver’s licenses. “If they don’t have driver’s licenses we are still going to have the problem around here. People need to work. They need to go to school. They need to live.’’

www.boston.com

“People who come here illegally, or overstay their visas, or what have you, they want what we want,’’

Devil Patrick means they want what we have. So did the last person to burglarize my house.

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-5490--0-0.html

If they don’t have driver’s licenses we are still going to have the problem around here. People need to work. They need to go to school. They need to live.’’

not if their arrested and deported ...

Last weekend, as he left a campaign stop in Chelsea, Patrick told reporters he still supports issuing driver’s licenses. But he said the state cannot act because federal law sets strict guidelines for state identification.

“We can’t do licenses until federal legislation changes,’’ Patrick said. “I still think it’s the right thing to do.’’

However, New Mexico, one of the few states to grant licenses to illegal immigrants, has said it plans to continue its program despite federal law.



So, let's make sure we have this right. New Mexico is violating Federal Law by issuing Drivers Licenses to illegal aliens which then allows these aliens to legitimately drive in 49 other states and the Justice Department is doing what about this? How is that not a National Security Issue? Just trying to get a handle on this before I go off the handle. Hopefully others are more knowledgeable about what is going on and it is not as bad as it seems at first glance.

In Florida you now have to provide more documentation to get a Drivers License than to get a mortgage so what is the process in New Mexico, say something, anything, in Spanish and wear a Democrat Party lapel pin!

Isn't Governor Richardson supposed to be going to jail right about now anyways? Wasn't he charged with a felony that caused him to refuse accepting an obama Administration position?

Where is McCain while all of this is going on? Oh, that is right he cannot even keep his home state free of all this illegal alien centered corruption much less serve as a constructive influence on the weak kneed poverty celebrating neighbor.