FAIR Urges Sen. Gillibrand to Resist Special Interest Pressure

(Washington, D.C. January 29 2009) On behalf of 13,000 members in New York, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) congratulates Kirsten Gillibrand on her appointment to the United States Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. With the nation and New York facing some of the toughest economic conditions since the Great Depression, FAIR urges Sen. Gillibrand to continue her strong defense of American workers and struggling American families by maintaining support for sensible immigration enforcement policies.

Since the announcement of her appointment on Friday, advocates for illegal aliens have been pressuring the new senator to back away from her strong defense of employee verification and other measures to control illegal immigration. While vocal and belligerent, these pressure groups represent neither the concerns of the majority of New Yorkers, nor those of Hispanic voters. A recent poll by the Pew Hispanic Center found that, like other Americans, Hispanic voters want Congress and the Obama administration to focus on repairing the economy, improving our schools, making health care affordable, and protecting our homeland security.

“At a time when 670,000 New Yorkers are out of work 89,000 jobs lost in December alone and the state is borrowing $90 million a week to cover the costs of unemployment benefits, Sen. Gillibrand has the opportunity to be a forceful advocate for protecting American jobs,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “We hope that Sen. Gillibrand will take a leadership role in the effort to reauthorize E-Verify, and require that companies benefiting from the economic stimulus package use the system to verify that workers are legal U.S. residents.”

With New York facing a $15 billion budget shortfall, Sen. Gillibrand’s continued support for sensible immigration enforcement would also make sound fiscal sense. A 2007 study by FAIR revealed that state taxpayers spent $5.2 billion to provide basic services to illegal aliens.

“Just a year and a half ago, former Gov. Eliot Spitzer was soundly repudiated by New Yorkers when he succumbed to special interest pressure and attempted to grant driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. Now the same interests that were behind that highly unpopular effort are attempting to strong-arm Sen. Gillibrand into acting in a way that is contrary to the interests of the vast majority of her constituents,” observed Stein.

“FAIR looks forward to working with Sen. Gillibrand to reform our nation’s immigration laws and ensure that they protect the vital economic and security interests of the American people,” Stein concluded.