Grimm blasts McMahon on immigration 'amnesty'
by John Signoriello
Michael Grimm, a Republican candidate for Congress in New York’s 13th CD (SI/Bklyn) called on Congress today to finally take a leadership role on illegal immigration.
“For too long, Congress has sat on the sidelines as millions of illegal immigrants have crossed our borders,” said Mr. Grimm.
“Congress’ inability to deal with this problem has led states like Arizona to act independently of the federal government.”
Michael Grimm zeroed in on comments made by incumbent Democratic Congressman Michael McMahon.
Rep. Michael McMahon said he is opposed to empowering local and state police as the enforcers of our federal immigration policy.
"They are there to protect everyone regardless of their status," Rep. McMahon said, according to a number of sources, including the SI Advance.
Michael Grimm said congressional inaction on illegal immigration is tantamount to amnesty.
“Mike McMahon claims that this is a federal issue," Mr. Grimm said "but he and his congressional colleagues have refused to act.”
“It seems to me that Mike McMahon--who doesn’t even have a plan to deal with the issue--prefers the status quo, which is providing nothing more than amnesty to those here in this country illegally.”
Mr.Grimm is vying for the GOP nomination in the 13th CD, which includes all of Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn.
His opponent in the GOP primary will be Michael Allegretti.
Michael Grimm considers himself a conservative and strongly opposes amnesty.
He offered his own plan for dealing with the immigration issue:
• All those detained or questioned by local law enforcement personnel for a specific suspicion of violating local or state laws to be required to produce appropriate identification. Those that fail to do so would be turned over to the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
• Furnish and install a fence along the easy access areas to the United States borders.
• Secure the fence with Federal Border Patrol Agents and support and supplement them with the National Guard as needed or required.
• Insist that any illegal alien convicted of a felony be immediately deported without costing the tax payers thousands of dollars in litigation.
Mr. Grimm emphasized that as long as police legally questioned people with specific suspicions of violating local or state laws, he saw no problem with enlisting the help of such law enforcement personnel.
“While opponents claim that they’re concerned about racial profiling and violating civil rights, I see no problem with asking local and state police for their assistance," said Mr.Grimm.
He added:
“Providing local and state law enforcement this authority makes sense because they are the first responders in most criminal acts.
"That being said, unlike Mike McMahon, I have faith in our local police forces that they can and will be respectful of the law and not engage in racial profiling and violations of civil liberties, which obviously would be wrong.”
An ex-Marine and ex-FBI agent, Michael Grimm stated, in a recent press release, that he trained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia, alongside many border patrol agents,
This training has provided him with a special understanding for what federal law enforcement personnel face when dealing with this complex issue, he stated.
