“If Harold Ford, Jr. had his way, he would seal all of America’s borders, and deploy the military and police to conduct raids on households,” wrote Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez in a letter supporting Kirsten Gillibrand on February 3rd, 2010.
Did Velazquez became a passionate Gillibrand supporter only once Ford was in the picture?
Elections for the New York Senate seat are not for another seven months, but the prospect of Ford challenging Gillibrand made Velazquez lose her cool last week.
In her statement supporting Gillibrand, Velazquez chronicled the junior New York senator’s achievements and portrayed Gillibrand as her political sister on these points:
- Velazquez, who was instrumental in appointing Judge Sotomayor, lists Gillibrand among the first in the Senate to ensure that New York’s own judge was at the top of President Obama’s list for the Supreme Court.
- Gillibrand, like Velazquez, opposed holding the 9/11 terror trials in downtown Manhattan (Though, most prominent New York politicians such as Schumer and Bloomberg, expressed the same opposition.)
- Both are in agreement on more broad (and vague) issues as well, from health care reform to “creating jobs for New Yorkers through small businesses,” wrote Velazquez.
Then Velazquez moves on to the most important agreement with Gillibrand, or the greatest disagreement with Ford.
For Congresswoman Velazquez there’s one big reason she cannot afford to have the former Memphis congressman in the New York Senate.
Immigration.
As chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Velazquez’s stance on immigration is as far from Ford’s as Puerto Rico is from Tennessee.
In 2005, Ford voted in favor of the Sensenbrenner bill, which would have allowed local police to arrest illegal immigrants and made it a crime for nurses, priests and others to help them.
A year later, President Bush signed the “Border Fence Bill,” a bill Ford voted for. The bill authorized the construction of 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border, to prevent the entry of terrorists, unlawful aliens, etc.
But, recently adopted political sister of Velazquez or not, Gillibrand hasn’t exactly been an obvious pro-immigrant advocate. Two years ago El Diario ran a front-page article on Gillibrand, citing her votes in favor of English-only regulations and a bill deputizing local police officers to act as immigration agents.
When Gillibrand was first appointed by Gov. Paterson, one Latino official said her House voting record on immigration bordered “on xenophobia.”
“…But as soon as she [Gillibrand] moved from her rural Republican-heavy congressional district to the Senate, Gillibrand pivoted to the left,” The Daily Beast wrote in November 2009.
But for Velázquez, Gillibrand’s record tells a different story:
“Kirsten has been a strong and consistent voice for New York’s immigrant communities,” she writes in the letter.
She mentions the senator’s co-sponsorship of the DREAM Act, the bill that, if it passes, will enable – under certain circumstances – high school students to legalize their status.
Perhaps Gillibrand was able to convince her constituency she’s ready to help New York’s immigrants, but in case Ford tries to change his mind, here’s his former testimony on the issue, courtesy of your congresswoman, Nydia Velazquez