Thread: NY: new senator voices support for amnesty

Updated: 01/28/09 07:53 AM
Gillibrand promises to embrace the entire state
By Jerry Zremski
NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

Associated Press Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, with New York partner, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, gets adapted to Senate side of Capitol.Getty Images Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, with Vice President Biden, re-enacts her swearing-in.


WASHINGTON — On her first day as New York’s junior senator, Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand on Tuesday vowed to represent the entire state — and to seek common ground with liberal critics who have attacked her views.

Speaking with reporters at a reception in her honor a few hours after being sworn in by Vice President Biden, the new senator from upstate took a conciliatory approach in response to sometimes vicious attacks she has faced from opponents who are to her political left on gun control and immigration.

Yet she also maintained views — particularly on immigration and the $700 billion financial bailout she opposed last fall — that are far to the right of the typical New York Democrat.

“Certainly I represent the whole stateâ€

This woman needs to grow a backbone...

Gillibrand and immigration: a closer look
By NATHAN BROWN, Enterprise Staff Writer
POSTED: January 28, 2009


It's not only gun-control advocates who are expressing displeasure with Kirsten Gillibrand's appointment to the U.S. Senate. Opponents of enforcement-oriented policies toward illegal immigration are also talking about a primary challenge to her in 2010.

State Assemblyman Peter M. Rivera of the Bronx put out a statement blasting Gillibrand's record on immigration, saying she has a "hard-line stand on immigration, which borders on xenophobia." Rivera, the senior Latino in the Assembly, had planned to hold a meeting of Hispanic lawmakers on the third floor of the Capitol building Tuesday morning to protest the appointment, but canceled when Gillibrand asked for a meeting to explain her views first.

What are Gillibrand's views on immigration? She went into detail about them in an interview with the New York City television station NY1 on Saturday, and also on her Congressional Web site.

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Enforcement

"I believe the first step to fixing our immigration system is to stop the flow of illegal immigration," Gillibrand said on her Web site.

Gillibrand was a sponsor of the SAVE Act, which would have hired 8,000 new Customs and Border Patrol agents and used fencing and technological improvements such as aerial surveillance and military equipment to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. The bill, supported by a majority of Republicans and a minority of Democrats, was opposed by the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives and did not pass.

Gillibrand also sponsored the Legal Employment Verification Act, which would have required all employers to verify, through the Social Security system, that their employees are in the country legally. This law did not pass, either.

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Guest-worker program

Gillibrand told NY1 that she favors a guest-worker program where people can come here for five years, then renew their visas for another five years and then apply for citizenship after that.

Currently, she said, illegal immigration is inevitable because certain sectors of our economy, such as agriculture, rely on immigrant labor. But, she said she thinks amnesty for people currently here illegally is the wrong approach.

"I would do it very differently," she said. "I would right-size immigration and make sure that every person who wants to be working in this country legally has a way to be here legally and to come in properly."

Gillibrand criticized another proposal that would only allow people to come here on two-year visas and then require them to return after a year.

"That guarantees illegal immigration in two years, because folks aren't going to go home, because if they had a job at home or they wanted to stay at home, they wouldn't be here," she said.

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Family reunification

Gillibrand said she supports streamlining the legal immigration process to make it easier for people to move here to reunite with their families already here. Currently, she said, there is an eight-year backlog.

"That's unacceptable," she told NY1. "That should be reduced to one year, to six months. And if it's because you don't have enough resources, you need a lot more lawyers, you need a lot more case managers - well, hire them."

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Other

Gillibrand opposed former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses.

She also voted for two bills, one in 2007 and one in 2008, that would penalize "sanctuary cities," or cities that don't allow local authorities to ask people about their immigration status. The first bill would have reduced federal Homeland Security funding for such cities by up to 50 percent; the second would have made the interest on bonds they take out taxable. Both measures failed, although the first one did pass the House of Representatives.

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Contact Nathan Brown at 891-2600 ext. 26 or nbrown@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.co ... l?nav=5008

RED ALERT PATRIOTS!!!! YOUR HELP IS NEEDED!

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-144543.html

Gillibrand said she plans to meet with Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez to learn more about immigration reform.

Why meet with Congresswoman Valezquez? Is it simply because she is Hispanic and her last name is Valezquez? Personally, I think Gillibrand would be better served meeting with Sen. DeMint, Sen. Sessions, Rep. Hunter, etc., etc., etc. IMO, expecting to get factual information from a pro-illegal alien advocate is no different than going directly to the banking industry and asking them why they need bailout money. Honestly, I wouldn't trust either to give me a straight answer.

Shouldn't we write, email, FAX her?

There's no Website to contact her yet.
I did find this voting record page.
http://www.govit.com/representative/kir ... ote_record

She voted twice against CHIPS!!!

Against Adopting rules for the One Hundred Eleventh Congress

She voted NO To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex, and for other purposes.