Giffords, Kelly clash over 'amnesty' issue
Illegal entrants are focus of debate

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Andrea Kelly Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 12:00 am | Comments


In the first debate between candidates running for Congress in Arizona's border District 8, immigration was front and center.

The first three questions about amnesty and checkpoints took up nearly a quarter of the hour-long face-off Monday between incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Republican challenger Jesse Kelly and Libertarian challenger Steve Stoltz.

The first question to Giffords was about her support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

"I don't support amnesty. No one supports amnesty; that's what President Reagan supported," she said. What she supports is the STRIVE Act, which also was sponsored by Republican U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, and Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, she said.

That bill allowed illegal immigrants who, among other things, paid back taxes, fees and fines, and passed a criminal background check, to qualify for citizenship, she said.

"You do all of those things - welcome to America," she said.

Kelly said the STRIVE Act was, in fact, amnesty. He said the government needs to build a double-layer border fence, and criticized Giffords for "defunding the border fence," referring to a vote Giffords cast against a bill involving funding for the fence. Giffords said the legislation would have taken money from high-tech security measures and put it toward the border fence, which was already funded in a different measure.

"What do we have, we have a checkpoint on I-19, and 50 percent of the drugs that come into the United States come through Arizona," Kelly said.

Stoltz had a simplified take on citizenship for immigrants.

"My rapid path to citizenship is anybody who understands the Constitution should be a citizen if they have a good understanding of English," he said.

Entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare need to be eliminated, and mixing national troops with local troops is unconstitutional, he said.

Kelly was asked how much money needs to be spent studying the effectiveness of checkpoints before a decision is made on whether to keep them.

"How much more money needs to be spent? Well, tell me how many more liberals we're going to elect to Washington, D.C.," he said.

Kelly said he does not support the DREAM Act, a provision in the STRIVE Act that would have allowed some illegal immigrant minors the opportunity for citizenship if they met certain criteria, including getting a college degree or serving in the military.

"I do not support the DREAM Act. The path to citizenship begins in your country of citizenship," Kelly said.

Giffords said the idea is a "realistic approach" and a "tremendous opportunity" for people who would qualify.

Stoltz said the proposal sounded nice but had hidden "gotcha" implications.

In her closing statement, Giffords said Kelly used the word "Arizona" a single time during the debate.

"I'm not sure who he wants to represent, but it's not us," she said.

In response, after the debate, Kelly said, "I said Arizona once; she bankrupted Arizona once," referring to her budget votes in the Legislature before she went to Congress, something he also mentioned during the debate.

"She joined with Janet Napolitano to bankrupt the state, then moved on to the federal government to join with (President) Obama and (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi to bankrupt the country," he said during the debate.

The crowd filled 1,300 chairs in the University of Arizona ballroom, and some watched video of the event in an overflow room. People gathered hours before the debate to wave signs and wait in line for seats. The audience also frequently broke into shouts, boos and applause, drowning out the candidates in the debate.


Contact reporter Andrea Kelly at akelly@azstarnet.com or 807-7790.

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