MELVILLE
Immigration Advocates To Rally
Group plans demonstration to boost Senator’s immigration bill outside his Melville office
By Danny Schrafel/dschrafel@longislandernews.com

A first-time visit to Senator Chuck Schumer’s Melville offices will bring a message of support from Long Island immigration activists Thursday morning.

Under the umbrella of the Long Island Immigrant Alliance, activists were planning to rally outside the Democratic senator’s office on March 4 to push him to introduce immigration legislation in the U.S. Senate.

“He is sponsoring an immigration reform bill and we are having a rally to show our support for Sen. Schumer and his immigration bill and to ask him to introduce it as soon as possible,” said Maryann Sinclair Slutsky, campaign director of Port Washington-based Long Island WINS, one of the immigration organizations participating in the rally.

The rally is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at Schumer’s Melville office, located at 145 Pinelawn Road. Originally scheduled for Feb. 11, the first rally was snowed out.

Slutsky said her organization is pushing for legislation to include an earned, legal path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants – not amnesty, she stressed.

“We want to see legalization for undocumented immigrants and an earned path to citizenship [including] background checks, learning English, becoming full participants in the community and paying their fair share of taxes,” she said
Schumer’s legislation, which the Senator has said he can have ready whenever the Obama administration wants it, would follow in the footsteps of a bill introduced by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D – Ill.) which would require illegal immigrants to prove employment, pay a $500 fine and pass a criminal background check before pursuing citizenship. The proposal would also push a crackdown on businesses that employ illegal immigrants and strengthen border security while requiring improvements to immigration jails and ending a program that enlists local and state officers as immigration agents.

However, the Gutierrez bill, which does not require immigrants to engage in “touchback,” where immigrants return to their homeland first before pursuing American citizenship, has been criticized as de facto amnesty that would produce a larger flow of migrant workers during a recession. It does not include a program to analyze future labor demands and control the future flow of migrants, particularly through a temporary worker program.

Slutsky argued immigration reform is key to economic revitalization in the recession-wracked United States. Immigrants created 82,000 jobs through their spending on Long Island, mustered $7.5 billion in buying power and had an overall economic impact of $10.6 billion in 2006 while creating billions in net tax revenue – about $2,305 per person, according to a report published in 2008 by Adelphi University’s Dr. Mariano Torras.

“They contribute a meaningful amount to the Long Island economy not only through buying and spending, but taxes as well. [Immigrants have] a net benefit in taxes, contrary to what most people think,” Slutsky said.