I've blogged a few times on Senator Gillibrand's (D-NY) controversial views on immigration. She had often stated that she "was firmly against amnesty", voted for the Save Act, and supported fencing along the Border. These views weren't quite in line with Obama or the Democratic platform and more importantly, her Nuevo York constituents.
Well now, like her views on gay marriage, she started to change her tune.
Gillibrand met this weekend with her biggest critic, Assemblyman Rivera to start to ease the tensions and guarantee her support for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the Dream Act.
Hear more about the meeting below the fold.
To give anyone not following this before a recap:
A plurality of New Yorkers support Comprehensive Immigration Reform. It was especially aggravating because Gillibrand was replacing Clinton, a staunch Reform advocate. The local Democrats began to notice and criticize.
Assemblyman Peter Rivera, the State Senate's highest ranking Hispanic called her "xenophobic"(which I personally think was a tad too far). She was even on the Cover of El Diario with the headline "Anti-Inmigrante".
Now the article below:
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GILLIBRAND CHANGES TUNE
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand began working this weekend to change her conservative, anti-immigrant image, meeting with more than a dozen Hispanic state and city elected officials in Brooklyn Sunday and promising to start softening her stance ASAP on a topic certain to be crucial to her ability to defend her seat in 2010.
After the two-hour meeting, el Diario reported Gillibrand had "changed her tune" on immigration, promising to work with President Obama on "comprehensive immigration reform that has an earned path to citizenship" for people without documentation.
She also pledged to support the DREAM Act, would make it possible for many undocumented high school students to obtain a legal status after meeting certain eligibility requirements, and follow the lead of her predecessor, Hillary Clinton, on a bill that would secure funding for ESL programs.
The new senator would not commit to calling for a halt to large-scale immigration raids and said she would meet with Mayor Bloomberg to discuss local police acting as immigration agents.
Assemblyman Peter Rivera, who has been among the most outspoken of the anti-Gillibrand
crowd, upsetting fellow critics by referring to her in a press advisory as "xenophobic," said today's meeting was "fun and important," but "the proof will be in the pudding."
"It's too early to know whether this is going to have a long-term effect," Rivera said. "It was a nice meeting, and she committed herself to really learn more about immigration and use us as advisers."
"...She said a lot of the votes she took, particularly on immigration, were Republican measures that were not going anywhere but used to prod members like her into taking a position on these issues."
From the NY Daily News, Elizabeth Benjamin
I would like to point out that this move is solely based on the pressure of her fellow Democrats. If it weren't for concerned people like me, you, and the obvious majority of voters, this might not have happened.
What troubles me still in this conversation over the weekend however, was that she still supports allowing local police to enforce immigration law. This wouldn't be such a bad idea, if there wasn't over 34 types of identification that police would have to be familiar with. Determining whether or not someone is a legal citizen is a fairly complicated task and requires a fair amount of training. It involves an understanding of complicated immigration law. Mistakes have been made, and even ICE agents have deported Americans citizens before.
It would also immediately burden our local courts.
Can you imagine a Manhattan criminal court suddenly dealing with immigration cases on top of their heavy load?
This hasn't worked very well in other states, just ask people in Arizona.
Hopefully we can educate Gillibrand on her last position, after all she's a former lawyer.
I wonder why is she taking so much longer to flip on this issue than gay marriage.