Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand '88, D-N.Y., has come under fire since her appointment to the Senate last week for her conservative stance on immigration during her time in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Gillibrand, who represented an upstate New York district during her time in the House, is considered a "fairly conservative Democrat" with an immigration policy that is "fairly consistent with upper-state New Yorkers' views," Gary Jacobson, a political science professor at the University of California-San Diego, said.
While in the House, she cosponsored the "Secure America with Verification and Enforcement Act," which proposed stiffer penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants, adding 8,000 new border patrol agents and increasing resources for police to enforce immigration laws.
Gillibrand also earned a "B" from Americans for Better Immigration, an organization dedicated to reducing both legal and illegal immigration, the highest grade given to any New York senator or representative.
Gillibrand's immigration policies are "deeply troubling," Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the pro-immigration New York Immigration Coalition, said in a press release.
She called for Gillibrand to reconsider her positions now that she represents "one of the most diverse states in the nation, where more than one in five residents is an immigrant."
Joel Rivera, the Democratic majority leader of the New York City Council, organized a rally on the steps of New York's City Hall in hopes of convincing Gillibrand to reconsider her positions on immigration issues, according to the New York Daily News.
The New York City-based Spanish language newspaper, "El Diario La Prensa," described Gillibrand as a "disappointing choice" in an editorial last Saturday, criticizing Gillibrand's opposition to giving illegal immigrants amnesty, and her support for making English the country's official language.
"If Gov. David [Paterson, D-N.Y.,] wanted to deliver a slap to immigrant New Yorkers, he effectively did so with his appointment yesterday of Representative Kirsten Gillibrand," the newspaper wrote.
Gillibrand has worked to gain the support of Hispanic leaders and immigration advocates since her appointment. At a reception following her swearing-in ceremony, Gillibrand promised to review her immigration positions. Her office has also hired The Mirram Group, a lobbying firm run by former New York state assemblyman Roberto Ramirez, to reach out to the Hispanic community.
Gillibrand, who studied Chinese at Dartmouth and studied abroad in China and Taiwan, has also made efforts to appeal to the Chinese-American community, giving an interview in Mandarin on Tuesday to the New York Chinese language newspaper, "World Journal."
Gillibrand spoke about her interest in U.S.-China relations, which she said she hopes to improve as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, and the need to give legal immigrants the opportunity to work towards citizenship, according to media reports.
Gillibrand, whose self-given Chinese name is Lu Tian Na, graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth with a degree in Asian studies and wrote her senior thesis on "The History of Tibetan Resistance to the Chinese Occupation of Tibet 1950-1988."
Gillibrand is up for reelection in 2010 and is reaching out to immigrant leaders in case she faces a pro-immigration challenger in the Democratic primary, Jacobson said.
"The immigration issue is not one that fits neatly along party lines," Jacobson said. "New York Democrats tend to be fairly liberal and are dominated by members from the greater New York area. There are a lot of immigrants in the greater New York area and a lot of first-generation descendents of immigrants. It will hurt her in a primary challenge when she runs for reelection in 2010 but it won't hurt in a statewide race against a Republican."
Gillibrand's office could not be reached for comment by press time.
