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NY Candidates Stance on Immigration Reform and Immigrant Labor Rights

A quick view on what New York candidates stand for on immigration and labour

Documented

Nov 02, 2020

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Hundreds of users follow Documented’s work on WhatsApp and we asked them: What are the immigration-related issues you want candidates to be talking about this election? They overwhelmingly listed two topics: immigration reform and immigrant labor rights.

We collected the positions on the issues from the presidential candidates and some of the New York congressional candidates. Find them listed below:

White House

Immigration Reform

Joe Biden (D)

Supports:

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  • Supports Asylum Seekers and Implementation of new asylum laws
  • Providing a pathway to citizenship for many immigrants in the U.S.
  • Expanding family-based migration 
  • DACA recipients and their families 
  • Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection are held accountable

Opposes:

  • Family Separations at the border
  • Merit-based visas 
  • Public Charge ruling 
  • “Muslim Ban” laws, which prohibits entry of immigrants from specific countries

President Donald Trump (R)

Supports:

  • The construction of a border and additional detention centers 
  • The removal of undocumented immigrants 
  • A merit-based immigration system  
  • Limiting access for asylum seekers
  • Public Charge rule
  • Limiting the number of diversity based visas

Opposes

  • Chain migration 
  • Visa lotteries 
  • Counting undocumented immigrants in the census  
  • Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
  • Funding to Sanctuary Cities

Immigrant Labor Rights

Joe Biden (D)

Supports:

  • Protecting wages and expanding the number of “High Skilled” (H-1B) Visas
  • Increasing the number of employment-based visas based on economic conditions

Also Read: A Look At Trump´s First Term in Office

President Donald Trump (D)

Supports:

  • H-1B visas are awarded to the most skilled or highest-paid petitioner
  • Increasing the number of employment-based visa in ratio to family-based visas

Also Read: How Trump’s War on Sanctuary Cities Affected Immigrants

N-21

Rep. Elise Stefanik (L) and Tedra Cobb

Immigration Reform

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R)

Supports:

  • Prioritizing securing the U.S.-Mexico border over all other immigration policy decisions
  • Reforming the H-2A visa system for farmers
  • Protecting the 2019 America’s Food and Agriculture Act
  • Providing a path to legal status for DACA recipients who are in the military, working, or enrolled in school.

Opposes:

  • Amnesty for undocumented immigrants

Tedra Cobb (D)

Supports:

  • A pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, including codifying DACA into law 
  • Simplifying the visa application process 
  • Ensuring that residents with limited English language skills have  access to interpreters during clinical and hospital visits
  • Separating police and immigration authorities from one another

Opposes:

  • Visa or travel restrictions based on religion

Immigrant Labor Rights

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R)

Supports:

  • The NY Farm Bureau, a member based organization for farmers that has historically opposed labor rights legislation for farm workers, the majority of whom are immigrants and undocumented. 
  • The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which establishes a mandatory E-Verify process to identify undocumented workers.

Opposes

  • Legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses — Green Light Law

Tedra Cobb (D)

Supports:

  • Providing basic labor rights  (such as the right to a day of rest, overtime pay, disability pay, and collective bargaining) for immigrant workers 
  • Simplifying the process for migrant workers to acquire the necessary visas to work 
  • Establishing a REAL ID-compliant, two-tier driver’s license system.
  • Enforcing regulation that prohibits the exploitation of seasonal and/or undocumented workers.

Also Read: Iranians Affected the Most by Trump’s Travel Ban

NY-11

Rep. Max Rose (L) and Nicole Malliotakis

Immigration Reform

Rep. Max Rose (D)

Supports:

  • The Dream and Promise Act, Rose co-sponsored this bill
  • Temporary Protected Status

Opposes:

  • Trump’s administration’s travel ban, Rose led the passage of the NO BAN Act, which repealed the Trump administration’s Travel Ban

Nicole Malliotakis (R)

Supports:

  • Implementing an entry/exit tracking system for immigrants 
  • Using E-Verify, a web-based system that checks workers’ eligibility to labor in the U.S.
  • Streamlining the process for visas and citizenship
  • Investing in CBP and ICE

Opposes:

  • Sanctuary City policies  
  • The American Dream and Promise Act
  • Offering state tuition assistance to undocumented immigrants.
  • Legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses — Green Light Law 
  • Legislation that would allow undocumented  immigrants to register to vote in NYS

Immigrant Labor Rights

Rep. Max Rose (D)

Supports:

  • Legislation that authorizes undocumented workers, who have worked at least 180 days in a 2-year period to become certified agricultural workers (CAW), as outline in HR5038.

Nicole Malliotakis (R)

Opposes:

  • Bill A1792 to extend farm worker’s benefits, 72% of whom are foreign-born.

Also Read: Immigration Courts Under Trump: Backlogs and Courts Independency

NY 22

Claudia Tenney (L) and Rep. Anthony Brindisi

Immigration Reform

Claudia Tenney (R)

Supports:

  • Building a border wall including a budget that made a down payment for its construction 
  • Legislation that would impose penalties on government officials who obstruct federal immigration law. 
  •  Increasing penalties for undocumented immigrants who re-enter the US after deportation 
  • A bipartisan Budget Act that provided $1.6 billion to improve border security
  • The Securing America’s Future Act, which would have ended chain migration, created a visa lottery, funded the border wall and cut funding to sanctuary cities.
  • The Protect Kids and Parents Act, intended to end the separation of families seeking asylum and expedite the asylum process for individuals arriving in the U.S. with children. 

Opposes:

  • The  Border Security and Reform Act of 2018, which supported DREAMERs and addressed ways to prevent the separation of families at the border. 
  • The Dream Act, Tenney was quoted saying it ‘put illegals first.’

Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D)

Supports:

  • “Tough but fair” immigration reform 
  • Strengthening border security to prevent “dangerous people” from entering. 
  • A pathway to citizenship for immigrant families who abide by the laws and pay taxes. 
  • The New York State DREAM Act

Opposes:

  • Abolishing ICE 
  • The separation of families at the border 

Immigrant Labor Rights

Claudia Tenney (R)

Supports:

  • The 2018 Securing America’s Future Act, which repeals the diversity visa program from the Immigration and Nationality Act

Opposes:

  • Bill A1792 to extend farm worker’s benefits, 72% of whom are foreign-born.

Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D)

Supports:

  • The Farm Workforce Modernization Act , which would offer a path for farm workers and their families to obtain legal status

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