Thread: Christie tackles immigration question at conference

April 21, 2015, 2:13 PM Last updated: Tuesday, April 21, 2015, 7:32 PM
By HERB JACKSON

For the second time in less than a week, Governor Christie on Tuesday used a question about immigration to draw a distinction between undocumented residents who want to work and those who want to vote.

And that could be a sign that, as Christie tries to navigate his way through a crowded field of potential candidates for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, he is preparing an immigration position that would allow people without proper documentation to stay in the country to work but not to become citizens.

A stance like that would put him at odds with the bipartisan immigration reform agreement that passed the Senate in 2013 and died in the House. But it would also put Christie at odds with conservatives in his own party, including some presidential hopefuls, who want all undocumented workers to be forced to return to their native countries.

Christie has had a complicated record on immigration since becoming governor in 2010. He won praise from immigration advocates for signing a law that allowed children without legal status to receive in-state tuition at state colleges and universities. But he also was harshly criticized by many of those same advocates for having the state join a lawsuit challenging President Obama’s executive orders that would allow many undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation.

Asked about immigration by an international finance executive at a trade and cultural conference at the State Department sponsored by a pair of non-profit groups, Christie said New Jersey’s population is one of the nation’s most diverse.

“In New Jersey we have a number of folks who are there in undocumented status and I’ve met many of these folks,” he said. “I will tell you this. None of them have ever come to me and said the reason we came here, governor, was to vote. They all say they came to work.”

He made similar comments last week in New Hampshire, where he took things a step further.

“You have this whole argument [that] the Democratic Party tries to foist upon us about path to citizenship,” he said in Londonderry, N.H. “I will tell you that most folks that I’ve met in my state who have come here to this country illegally, have come here because they want to work. Because they want to support themselves, they want to support their families. So let’s stop having this argument about path to citizenship.”

Sara Cullinane, deputy director of Make the Road NJ, an immigrant rights group in Elizabeth, said it was “ridiculous” to say that a pathway to citizenship wasn’t important.

“Sure, people come to work and support their families, but they stay and plant roots and form part of the fabric of our country,” she said. “There’s many other reasons, not just work, for staying here.”

While Christie’s position is unlikely to be supported by immigration advocates, he also drew criticism in his own party for bluntly rejecting the idea of mass deportation.

“There are not enough law-enforcement people in the entire country if all they were doing every day was rounding people up to deport them,” Christie said in Londonderry. He also told that audience he did not support building a wall along the Mexico border because technology and manpower could provide better enforcement, and that stricter treatment of employers who hire immigrants without the proper status would reduce the demand for workers entering the country illegally.

At the State Department, Christie also said he did not believe undocumented immigrants would “engage in self-deportation,” an idea suggested in 2012 by presidential nominee Mitt Romney, the candidate Christie had aggressively supported. He also said there would have to be better border security before the American people would accept a broader reform of immigration laws.

Christie was invited to the State Department to speak at the 45th annual Conference of the Americas, a program sponsored by the Americas Society and the Council of the Americas, groups that promote trade and political, social and economic dialogue between the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada.

As the only governor on a program that also included members of the Cabinet, the president of Honduras and the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Christie also fielded questions about his trips to Canada and Mexico last year.

Christie criticized Obama for vetoing a bill to build the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast, saying that friendly nations should provide such accommodations to each other. He also said that Cuba should return Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted of slaying a New Jersey state trooper and has been sheltered in Cuba since her escape from a Hunterdon County prison, before relations with the United States are normalized.

“I have no problem with Cuba being welcomed back into the family of civilized nations, but you have to be civilized and harboring a cop killer is not civilized conduct,” Christie said.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/chri...ence-1.1313875

“You have this whole argument [that] the Democratic Party tries to foist upon us about path to citizenship,” he said in Londonderry, N.H. “I will tell you that most folks that I’ve met in my state who have come here to this country illegally, have come here because they want to work. Because they want to support themselves, they want to support their families. So let’s stop having this argument about path to citizenship.”

Chris, how in the world do you think this helps you? Are you so removed from this issue that you don't understand that Americans care just as much about illegal aliens wanting to work as wanting to vote, if not more so? Americans care about the following:

1. illegal aliens working in the United States, which is illegal, and rightly so, because they steal jobs and businesses, causing unemployment and wage deflation amongst American Workers, which is unfair, illegal competition

2. illegal aliens being in the United States, which is illegal, and rightly so, because they sign up for tax credit welfare by filing phony tax returns, sign up for Medicaid to pay for their breeding, sign up for welfare to fund their inadequate work styles that don't support them, and drain our education and health care facilities and institutions by the services they use but don't pay for

3. illegal aliens lobbying our politicians, protesting our laws, making demands, and whining in a country they aren't supposed to be in to begin with, which is illegal, because they aren't supposed to be in our country to begin with, and rightly so

4. illegal aliens hurting and harming Americans by their presence, which is illegal, and rightly so, from crime to bad driving to stealing seats in colleges and universities to disease to drug running and money laundering to using scarce resources they aren't entitled to in a country they aren't supposed to be in

What is wrong with you, Chris? Are you a complete moron or just another political crook on the take with the cartels behind this travesty? Stopping illegal immigration, removing illegal aliens from the country, and drastically reducing legal immigration numbers will be the Number One Issue of the 2016 Elections, and whether you're a player in the race for President, or just President of the Republican Governor's Association, or a mouthpiece because you're a sitting Governor, in any event, you are about to make yourself the Biggest Fool in the 2016 Elections, if you haven't already achieved it, with the absurd public statements you're making on this issue.

Originally Posted by Judy

Chris, how in the world do you think this helps you? Are you so removed from this issue that you don't understand that Americans care just as much about illegal aliens wanting to work as wanting to vote, if not more so? Americans care about the following:

1. illegal aliens working in the United States, which is illegal, and rightly so, because they steal jobs and businesses, causing unemployment and wage deflation amongst American Workers, which is unfair, illegal competition

2. illegal aliens being in the United States, which is illegal, and rightly so, because they sign up for tax credit welfare by filing phony tax returns, sign up for Medicaid to pay for their breeding, sign up for welfare to fund their inadequate work styles that don't support them, and drain our education and health care facilities and institutions by the services they use but don't pay for

3. illegal aliens lobbying our politicians, protesting our laws, making demands, and whining in a country they aren't supposed to be in to begin with, which is illegal, because they aren't supposed to be in our country to begin with, and rightly so

4. illegal aliens hurting and harming Americans by their presence, which is illegal, and rightly so, from crime to bad driving to stealing seats in colleges and universities to disease to drug running and money laundering to using scarce resources they aren't entitled to in a country they aren't supposed to be in

What is wrong with you, Chris? Are you a complete moron or just another political crook on the take with the cartels behind this travesty? Stopping illegal immigration, removing illegal aliens from the country, and drastically reducing legal immigration numbers will be the Number One Issue of the 2016 Elections, and whether you're a player in the race for President, or just President of the Republican Governor's Association, or a mouthpiece because you're a sitting Governor, in any event, you are about to make yourself the Biggest Fool in the 2016 Elections, if you haven't already achieved it, with the absurd public statements you're making on this issue.

JUDY
EVERY ONE OF THEM ARE MORON EVERY TIME I READ A POST IT ABOUT THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS . OF WHAT THEY GET & THE USA GET A KICK IN THE ASS . I SAW THE OTHER DAY HILLARY SAID ABOUT THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ABOUT THE DR LIC WELL WHAT SHOULD WE DO . WELL i SAID SHIP THEM ALL BACK HOME ( HELLO WAKE THE HELL UP HILLARY )

Chris Christie, since you believe we do not have enough law enforcement officers to deport all aliens, I will offer a counter proposal. Let's round up all law makers who have perpetuated this into crises. I think we can make enough jail space to accommodate them.

Yes, since they did not fulfill their oath of office, I think we can find enough jurists to convict them, too. You as a governor speaking as a potential candidate for higher office, speaking about NOT enforcing law are now breaking your oath, too. Three years hard labor. Might be good for your health, too.

Christie is a non-starter for me, which mean he's not worthy of my time or energy.

Originally Posted by MW

Christie is a non-starter for me, which mean he's not worthy of my time or energy.

But it's a good time making fun of him.

Originally Posted by kevinssdad

Chris Christie, since you believe we do not have enough law enforcement officers to deport all aliens, I will offer a counter proposal. Let's round up all law makers who have perpetuated this into crises. I think we can make enough jail space to accommodate them.

Yes, since they did not fulfill their oath of office, I think we can find enough jurists to convict them, too. You as a governor speaking as a potential candidate for higher office, speaking about NOT enforcing law are now breaking your oath, too. Three years hard labor. Might be good for your health, too.

That just shows how stupid he is making such an erroneous statement. There are over 800,000 sworn police officers at the state and local level, who average 15 arrests per year, about 1 to 2 a month. They're armed, they have vests, they have vehicles, they have Tasers, they have sprays and batons and know the law and due process, and if each law enforcement officer arrested 2 illegal aliens a month, that's 1.6 million illegal aliens per month and 19,200,000 in 12 months and if during 1 month, they each arrested 3, then that's another 800,000 for a total of 20,000,000 illegal aliens arrested and prepared for deportation. In less than a year without any ICE or Border Patrol or DHS. Add in the Feds and this whole mess can be cleaned out in less than a year.

We need Trey Gowdy's bill passed post haste to acknowledge the rights of states to enforce US immigration law and authorize them by Congress to do so, we need this bill passed now so the work can begin and get this show on the road. State courts need to process the deportations, not these silly useless "immigration courts", what a waste of time and money.