Candidates debate immigration
Syracuse Post-Standard
Mike McAndrew
October 23rd, 2008
SYRACUSE, NY -- Just like Congress, the three candidates running for the 25th Congressional District seat were divided tonight on what to do about the 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
During the past three years, Congress was too split on this issue to pass comprehensive immigration reform bills.
At a debate televised live from the WCNY-TV studio in Liverpool, Democrat Dan Maffei, Republican Dale Sweetland and Green Populist Howie Hawkins mirrored that.
Maffei said the United States should not offer blanket amnesty to undocumented immigrants, but should combat the problem by prosecuting business owners who knowingly hire illegal workers. If the United States arrested employers who violate laws to cut costs, there would be fewer jobs for illegal workers and some would leave the United States, Maffei said.
He said he opposed the Bush administration's 2006 guest worker proposal to let immigrants register to work seasonal jobs because it was not limited to occupations where there were insufficient domestic laborers.
But he noted, "No farmer or small business owner should have to choose between keeping their business open and breaking the law."
Farmers in the 25th District need Congress to approve a guest worker program because they depend on migrant labor to harvest their crops, said Sweetland, a former dairy farmer. He said the government should help pay the cost businesses incur verifying if a worker is legally in the country.
"Employers don't always have the tools to certify if workers are legal. I don't think it is the employer who needs to make sure. It's the government that needs to make sure," Sweetland said.
He said he opposed blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants or guaranteeing illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.
Hawkins said any undocumented worker should be guaranteed a path to becoming a U.S. citizen.
He said he opposes a guest worker program because it would allow employers to pay undocumented immigrants substandard wages to labor in unsafe conditions.
The tonight's event was the first time that immigration reform has come up in the campaign. The three candidates are running for a seat held by Rep. James Walsh, R-Onondaga, who is retiring after 20 years.
Post-Standard urban affairs editor Maureen Sieh asked the candidates about their views on immigration reform as the debate was simulcast on WCNY-TV, WSTM-TV, WXXI-TV, WXXI-AM and WRVO-FM. The candidates expanded on their answers after the debate.
Congress has approved building a 700 mile fence along the nation's border with Mexico, but has been unable to agree on much else pertaining to immigration.
In 2007, the Senate rejected a bill that would allow illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States for five years or more to become citizens if they remained employed, had background checks, paid fines and back taxes and learned English.
Contact Mike McAndrew at mmcandrew@syracuse.com or 470-3016.
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