immigration

More than 300 activists and representatives from think tanks, community organizations and unions will gather Saturday to discuss new ideas for fixing New Jersey’s budget problems and turning around the state’s economy.

a TRIP BACK TO THE FUTURE

Some political insiders say that U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, a likely candidate for the 2009 Republican gubernatorial nomination, might have crossed the line last weekend when he criticized Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello, a candidate for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination, in a speech before a non-political group last weekend.  "I don't think it's helpful when a mayor of a town in New Jersey stands up at a rally and calls people he believes to be undocumented 'pinkos' and communists,” the Daily Record reported him as saying. 

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) wrote Republican presumptive presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) to request that he reject the latest Republican strategy on immigration in the Senate and House of Representatives. It was reported in National Journal’s CongressDailyAM today that the McCain campaign has signed off on a House Republican strategy to force the Shuler “enforcement-only” bill to the House floor by gathering signatures for a discharge petition.

No matter one's opinion of the immigration bill before Congress two weeks ago, it is a sad commentary on the failure of our government to address one of its largest public policy problems.  Immigration is one of the most important issues we face today and it is unfortunate that the  Congress will now have said nothing about it - at least not until after the 2008 elections.  The defeat of the immigration proposal is a stark admission that politics, not policy, is the controlling factor in our governmental system.  It’s truly a poor reflection on the government on one of the greatest nations on earth.

The paralysis in Washington on immigration reform creates an opportunity for New Jersey to fill the void.

Newark, NJ 6/26/07 -  In a rare procedural move today, the United States Senate voted 64 – 35 to return to the immigration debate.  On June 7, the Senate failed to obtain the 60 votes needed for a cloture vote. New Jersey senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez voted in favor of reopening the debate.

Charles "Sahi" Goldstein has been appointed Executive director of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network