Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has “a lot of ideas,” she told a crowd in Iowa, and one of them is to expand social security to all illegal immigrants.
Gillibrand climbed atop a chair to preach to her fellow Democrats in a Davenport coffee shop Tuesday, when she unveiled her bright ideas on addressing the flood of illegal immigrants pouring across the southern border in record numbers.
Of course, Gillibrand didn’t focus as much on protecting the border or keeping illegal immigrants out of the country as she did turning those already here into legal voters.
“So what will I do? I have a lot of ideas,” Gillibrand told the small crowd. “First, we need comprehensive immigration reform. If you are in this country now, you must have the right to pay into social security, to pay your taxes, to pay to the local school system, and to have a pathway to citizenship.
“That must happen,” she said.
The New York senator’s call to allow immigrants in the country illegally to tap into an already strained social safety net shouldn’t come as a surprise.
During a town hall Monday with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Gillibrand argued the illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. are not “a security issue” despite countless cases of illegal immigrants committing heinous crimes. Many are deported only to return to the U.S. illegally and commit more crimes.
“Immigration is not a security issue,” Gillibrand said, according to Real Clear Politics. “It is an economic and a humanitarian and a family issue. So there is no such thing as an illegal human.”
It’s a drastic departure from Gillibrand’s previous positions on the issue.
Despite votes in the past to increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Gillibrand is now calling to abolish the agency amid her party’s lurch to the left. As a congresswoman, Gillibrand campaigned on opposing “amnesty for illegal immigrants” and urged ICE to work with local police to increase deportations.
According to CNN:
Running for the House in 2006, Gillibrand attacked her opponent from the right on immigration and called securing the border “a national security priority.” In a 2007 interview, Gillibrand said “you have to close the borders” as a first step to “right size” immigration. In a 2008 mailer sent from her congressional office, Gillibrand touted her efforts to expedite “the removal of illegal aliens by expanding detention capacity and increasing the number of Federal District Court judges.”
Now she wants full amnesty for illegal immigrants. U.S. law currently only allows citizens who have paid into the Social Security system for years to draw benefits.
The Washington Examiner reports:
According to a 2010 analysis by the Social Security Administration’s Office of Retirement and Disability Policy, the program’s trust fund is expected to be exhausted by 2037. Social Security either has or is expected to soon begin paying out more in benefits than it earns in revenues.
Gillibrand attempted to explain away her apparent flip-flop on immigration in January.
“I just think as I’ve gotten older I’ve learned more about life and sometimes you’re wrong. And you’ve gotta fix it,” she said. “And if you’re wrong, just admit it and move on.”
Only time will tell if the senator will eventually come to the same conclusion about her scheme to extend social security to illegal immigrants.
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