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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'

First amendment denied at Baldwin county al clerks office
Just holding public servants accountable sorry the vid sucks first one very nervous.

By: Thomas Duke

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First amendment denied at Baldwin county al clerks office - Video

Houston demands pastors turn over sermons
I think the city of Houston is definitely violating our first amendment rights by issueing subpoenas demanding a group of pastors turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity...

By: DailyWorldwideNews

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Houston demands pastors turn over sermons - Video

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos insists he's a big fan of the First Amendment.

That's what the Republican legislator from Racine County said to justify his belief that corporations, businesses, labor unions or anyone else should be able to spend as much money as they want on political campaigns.

The Supreme Court's controversial Citizens United decision, the one that declared that corporations have the same First Amendment rights as individual citizens, was spot on, the speaker declared as he and Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca engaged in a debate before a packed WisPolitics.com luncheon last week.

Barca had just declared that the biggest threat to American democracy was the court's decision that money equals speech. The Kenosha Democrat added that it's critically important to overturn the decision that opened the floodgates to unlimited spending in political races.

But a smug and confident Vos, cocksure that Scott Walker would be re-elected governor and the Republicans would continue to control the Legislature after Nov. 4, was having none of it. He also declared that not only should corporations be able to give, the so-called independent issue groups should be able to collaborate with a candidate's campaign as well. (That's currently illegal under Wisconsin law and its alleged violation by Walker backers is behind the controversial John Doe investigation.)

I'm a huge believer in the First Amendment, he declared, as if there's no question that the Founding Fathers intended to include corporations in the Bill of Rights.

It was interesting to learn that Vos suddenly had such respect for the constitutional amendment authored by James Madison to protect minority views from "the tyranny of the majority." (It's apparently hard for Vos and the 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court to admit that the Founding Fathers only mentioned individual American citizens in their deliberations.)

Vos is the same guy, after all, who has been a consistent defender of secret legislative caucuses and was behind the move to forbid the Governmental Accountability Board from allowing online access to campaign contribution disclosure forms filed by legislators.

He was also one of the instigators of tough rules to limit demonstrations in the State Capitol during and after the protests in 2011, including prohibiting cameras and other recording devices in the Assembly balconies.

But when it comes to corporations-as-citizens, he's suddenly a firm believer in that First Amendment.

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Plain Talk: Robin Vos gets First Amendment religion