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Rep. Michael Grimm and Domenic Recchia are battling to represent Staten Island in Congress, but at least one topic on the campaign trail stretches beyond the district's borders: immigration reform and unaccompanied minors. NY1's Courtney Gross filed the following report.

The only border in the 11th congressional district is with New Jersey. Nonetheless, immigration reform is creeping into this race for Congress.

"Before we start talking about legalization and citizenship, really close the border," said Rep. Michael Grimm.

Grimm says close the borders. His Democratic challenger, Domenic Recchia, supports a path to citizenship.

"We need a path to citizenship. We need to secure our borders, but we need an immigration bill and we need it passed now," Recchia said.

Take the crisis over unaccompanied minors crossing the border, and positions are not quite as clear.

"When the mayor and the speaker of the City Council say that we should take these poor children from Central America that took that horrible trek across Mexico into our border, that we should house them here in New York City, that, to me, is a slap in the face of everyone here," Grimm stated.

Grimm is clearly against providing services to these children, which is what the de Blasio administration announced it would do last month.

"As bad as I feel that these families in Central America are living in poverty, I have to first, though, take care of my own," he said.

As for Recchia, on Wednesday, he declined to weigh in on whether these children should take refuge in the five boroughs.

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Immigration Reform Creeps Into Grimm/Recchia Race

He is widely expected to announce a crack down on migrants coming to the UK from within Europe in the coming months.

Mr Cameron today said there is "more that we need to do" to curb migration but declined to offer further details.

He is in Rochester today with several Cabinet ministers on his first of at least five visits to the by-election.

The contest was triggered by defection of Mark Reckless, the town's Tory MP, to Ukip.

Mr Reckless made a similar demand in his defection speech ten days ago, saying: "Does anyone left or right genuinely support an immigration system where we turn away the best and brightest from our Commonwealth, people with links and family here, in order to make room for unskilled immigration from southern and eastern Europe?"

Mr Reckless said seeking the immigration reform he wanted had become incompatible with membership of the Tory Party.

"I promise to cut immigration while treating people fairly and humanely. I cannot keep that promise as a Conservative. I can keep it as UKIP," he said.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, last weekend urged the Prime Minister to introduce such a scheme to win back Ukip voters.

However, with freedom of movement a sacrosanct principle for most in Brussels, delivering such a policy would almost certainly be impossible while remaining a member of the EU.

Mrs Firth, a former barrister and stay-at-home mother of three children, made the remarks at a hustings in Rochester last night alongside her rival, Kelly Tolhurst.

Continued here:
Tory candidate in Rochester says government's immigration policy not 'sensible'

The Real USA - Politically Engaged Rock Band
The story of Outernational, a politically committed rock band whose lyrics address issues such as immigration reform, in their album We are All Illegals, and capitalism. They call their musical...

By: teleSUR English

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The Real USA - Politically Engaged Rock Band - Video

Immigration reform has stalled on Capitol Hill, but it lives on in campaigns across the country this year where Democrats are citing it as a key litmus test of Republicans bipartisan credentials.

From Alaska to Iowa, Democrats are turning the immigration debate from a question of legalization and amnesty into a debate over willingness to cross party lines on tough issues and say Republican candidates who oppose the Senate bill have shown they cant be trusted to work in a bipartisan manner.

With disgust at Washington at a all-time high, or low, depending on how you look at it, I think it makes sense for Democrats to remind voters as much as possible that if the Republican Party wasnt dominated by a bunch of extremists, Congress could do much more to help address the problems facing the country, said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist.

In Georgia, where the immigration bill itself may not be too popular, Democratic Senate nominee Michelle Nunn is still pressing the attack, arguing that Republican nominee David Perdues refusal to back the legislation shows he cant be trusted to find bipartisan solutions.

This is probably one of the sharper contrasts you that will find between David and myself, Mrs. Nunn said in a candidates forum. I think David embraces what I believe is the attitude of gridlock in Washington that has not enabled us to get this done.

The Senate bill was written by the Gang of Eight senators, four Democrats and four Republicans, and would have legalized most of the estimated 11.5 million illegal immigrants already in the country, while also boosting legal immigration to help businesses find workers. It passed on a 68-32 vote, with all Democrats and 14 Republicans supporting it but it has failed to gain traction in the House, where the GOP has refused to bring it up for a vote.

Democrats from President Obama on down have said the bill symbolizes the fate of bipartisanship in Washington, praising Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona the four Republicans who co-wrote the legislation.

In Iowas Senate race this year, Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley has prodded Republican nominee Joni Ernst to say whether she would have joined the GOP architects of the bill, known by its legislative number, S.744.

The Braley campaign has contrasted Braleys bipartisan accomplishments against Ernsts obstructionism, said Jeff Link, who is advising the Braley camp. This is another issues where that frame works.

And in Alaska, Sen. Mark Begich, an incumbent Democrat who voted for the legislation, questioned why Republican nominee Dan Sullivan wouldnt back a bill that had the support of Mr. Rubio.

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Immigration reform a bipartisan litmus test for Democrats

From the need for immigration reform and the return to the gold-backed dollar and related economic issues, U.S. Senate hopeful Jeff Bell touched on a wide range of topics at Rider University in Lawrenceville last week.

Mr. Bell, who is a Republican, wants to unseat U.S. Sen. Cory Booker in the Nov. 4 general election. The Democratic senator was elected to the U.S. Senate in a special election last year, and is running for his first full term.

Right out of the box last week, Mr. Bell criticized Senator Bookers decision to hold only one debate with him. Mr. Bell, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate against Democrat Bill Bradley in 1978, said the two men held 21 debates during that campaign.

"There is something about the Democratic Party and the left wing. They are not used to a debate. They dont like it. They assume their vision is correct," said Mr. Bell, who spoke at the invitation of the universitys Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics.

Mr. Bell described the debates between himself and Mr. Bradley as "fruitful." Although Mr. Bradley was opposed to income tax rate cuts, he eventually reconsidered and co-sponsored the Tax Reform Act of 1986 in the Senate.

Reaching bipartisan support today is difficult to do, Mr. Bell said. President Obamas idea of negotiation is to ask for 95 percent of what he wants, demand it and then threaten to leave the table if his demands are not met, he said. The president issues executive orders to get what he wants, so there is no incentive to go to the table.

Another issue that should have received bipartisan support is immigration reform, said Mr. Bell, noting that he favors immigration reform. President George W. Bush pushed for immigration reform, but the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives balked.

President Obama pledged there would be immigration reform in his first term, but "he did not lift a finger," Mr. Bell said. The rumor has it that one of his top advisers, Rahm Emmanuel, told the president not to do it because it could have hurt the 2010 election, he said, adding that afterwards, the president "used immigration reform as a club against Republicans."

Mr. Bell said he is not opposed to immigration reform. It would be a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal aliens, he said. Reform would "regularize" their status. They would have to pay fines and taxes, and then there would be a 10-year waiting period until they could apply for U.S. citizenship.

Immigration reform is not amnesty, he emphasized, because there is no guarantee of obtaining American citizenship.

Originally posted here:
LAWRENCE: Bell outlines Senate campaign issues