Taken from Newsday
Poll: Voters in Peter King's
district back immigration reform
By VÍCTOR MANUEL RAMOS
Most voters in the reconfigured 2nd
Congressional District held by Republican Rep. Peter King support immigration
reform that includes a path to citizenship, according to a poll to be released
Thursday.
The survey by America's Voice, an
immigrant advocacy group in Washington, D.C., found 82 percent of likely voters
in the district support "legislation that would significantly increase
border security" while allowing immigrants to register for legal status
and apply for citizenship.
The findings put King, of Seaford, in a
position to be a national leader on immigration policy, advocates said. They're
hoping he will push his party on the issue as he did when he fought efforts to
block Sandy aid.
"Immigration is right in the mix
with exactly the kinds of populations that the Republican Party needs to repair
their image with: women, Latino voters, independents," said Patty Kupfer,
managing director of America's Voice.
The poll, conducted by Colorado-based
Magellan Strategies on Nov. 13 and 14, surveyed 673 likely voters in the South
Shore district that stretches from Seaford to Bayport.
King's was one of 17 "Republican
swing districts" in six states that America's Voice identified to conduct
polls. The results in the 2nd District were the highest in favor of immigration
reform among the districts polled, including Rep. Chris Gibson's 19th District
in the Hudson Valley and Catskills.
King, who had said he opposed any
amnesty program for immigrants in the United States illegally, has shifted to
say he would back a bill offering legal status and citizenship if it includes
border security and enforcement measures.
He said Tuesday he is waiting for the
right time to put his name on a bill. Reform efforts stalled in the House of
Representatives after the Senate passed its bill in June, but advocates said
they hope the effort would be revived next year.
Sponsoring the bill now "would
serve no purpose," he said. "It would be counterproductive and would
almost take me out of the bargaining."
King said he is "surprised"
that support for a comprehensive bill is as high as the poll indicates, but
agreed "there is a growing consensus that something has to be done."
His district became a focus of immigrant
advocates after redistricting last year made his constituency more diverse. He
went from a district with a largely white population to one that includes more
black and Hispanic communities in Bay Shore, Brentwood, Central Islip and
Wyandanch.
A bill with a citizenship path
"should be a no-brainer from the perspective of Long Islanders"
because of changing demographics and growing support, said Daniel Altschuler,
coordinator of the Long Island Civic Engagement Table, a Brentwood group
backing reform.
Proponents of increased enforcement said
voters would also accept a plan that more strictly penalizes illegal
immigration. "A convincing case could be made to voters in general, even
Hispanics, that as long as we have mass immigration to the United States, that
is going to affect you directly," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman of the
Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group in Washington, D.C., that
favors enforcement.
It's unclear how much political traction
the issue has in the district. In King's district, 62 percent of those polled
said the failure to pass a reform bill would not keep them from voting for a
Republican.
"For me, it's not high on the
priority list," Joan Donnison, president of the Bay Village Civic
Association and a resident of King's district, said of immigration reform.
"I hate to see more people falling in between the cracks, but there has to
be some coordinated way" to reach a compromise.
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