WATCH: Christie says any immigrant who came 'here illegally shouldn't become a citizen'

DES MOINES, Iowa — Gov. Chris Christie drew a hard line on immigration while in Iowa on Saturday, telling the conservative crowd here that people who come to the United State's illegally should not be granted citizenship.

The governor and Republican presidential candidate, speaking on the famous "soap box" at the Iowa State Fair, said unauthorized immigrants should be denied legal status.

"Anyone who knowingly came here illegally shouldn't become a citizen. I just don't believe they should become a citizen," Christie said to applause and cheers from the crowd.

"I think American citizenship is an enormous gift and if you came here by breaking the law, I don't think you should get citizenship," he said. "We don't want people to be rewarded for (knowingly engaging in) illegal conduct. It doesn't make any sense to reward folks for that."

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RELATED: WATCH: Pig crate protesters storm Christie's soap box stage in Iowa

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The line was delivered during Christie's 20-minute back and forth with a good-sized crowd which gathered around the soap box to ask the governor their questions.

Christie's hardline on unauthorized immigrants spurred about a dozen protesters to chant "citizenship now!" for the remainder of Christie's session.

The group wasn't the only protesters angered by Christie.

Shortly after that exchange, a pair of men who opposed his veto of a controversial pig crate bill stormed the soap box stage. The men, and a woman who also jumped on stage with them, were quickly wrestled off the stage by police.

The governor arrived at the fair grounds located in Des Moines on Saturday morning. He was joined by First Lady Mary Pat Christie and the couple's four children. The governor posed for a picture with his family in front of the famed butter cow at the fair, before shaking hands with Iowans and making his way to the soap box.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/08/christie_immigration.html

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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. Follow NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

New Jersey Latino Communities React Strongly to Trump’s Immigration Plan

http://youtu.be/PubDaxkrJXk

By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent - NJTV

“We couldn’t live back home, because of threats by gangs, poverty, lack of education,” said Li Adorno.

Adorno came to the US from Mexico with his family at age 7. He’s got an office job, goes to college but can’t get financial aid because he’s not here legally. He shudders at Republican presidential primary candidate Donald Trump’s immigration policy which would deport all undocumented immigrants — as Trump told NBC’s Chuck Todd.

“We have to make a whole new set of standards. And when people come in,” said Trump.

“You’re gonna split up families?  You’re gonna deport children?,” said Todd.  

“Chuck, we have to keep the families together.” Trump said 

“But you’re gonna keep them together out,” said Todd. 

“They have to go,” Trump said.

“What if they have no place to go?,” asked Todd.  

“We will work with them. They have to go,” said Trump.

“Right, but I feel like he doesn’t fully understand like we don’t come here by choice.  We’re not here to see Disneyland. We’re here because there are better opportunities here,” said Adorno.

Trump lists more reforms on his website — complete the Mexican border wall and hike immigration fees to pay for it, raise penalties for those who over stay their visas and end birthright citizenship — the 14th Amendment, which confers citizenship automatically on anyone born in the US. 

“My parents were immigrants. If Trump got his way — I would lose my citizenship,” said Latino Action Network Vice President Christian Esteves.

Esteves says Trump would discard an entire segment of society, that his extreme views have pushed more moderate Republicans further to the right. Gov. Chris Christie now says he questions birthright citizenship.

“It’s sickening. It truly is sickening that they would take this type of bigoted, racist approach to trying to get themselves into power,” Esteves said.

“There’s the perception a Hispanic undocumented worker comes here to get on welfare — those aren’t the statistics. They aren’t the statistics.  They’re working two-three jobs and they’re sustaining the American economy,” said NJ Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Chair Carlos Medina.

“I don’t think it’s attracting Latinos. I think it’s making them feel like they’re the target of this immigration discussion,” said Louis Zayas.

But Republican attorney Zayas says Trump’s plan does have merit.

“It has some good points — namely, secure the borders. I think everyone would agree, you need to secure the borders. But how you go about doing that is the issue. I don’t think constructing a wall is the way to do it in the 21st century.  I think it’s symbolic and is catering to a certain group within the Republican party,” Zayas said.

“The way it’s set up, it’s not working. Not only for the US but also for other different countries,” said NJ Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Board Member Luis De La Hoz. 

The latest Rutgers Eagleton poll says 64 percent of New Jersey residents believe undocumented immigrants who came here illegally should be allowed to stay — to seek US citizenship. Which means 64 percent of New Jerseyans don’t agree with Donald Trump on this issue. 

Coalition urges Christie to sign N.J. voting overhaul

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/08/coalition_urges_christie_to_sign_nj_voting_overhau.html

TRENTON — A coalition of labor unions, women and minority groups, and civil rights organizations are urging Gov. Chris Christie to a sign what they call a groundbreaking piece of legislation sitting on his desk.

The Democratic-controlled state Legislature sent the "Democracy Act," a sweeping overhaul of New Jersey's voting laws, to the Republican governor last month — though Democratic leaders aren't confident he'll approve it. 

But the coalition of 35 groups sent a letter to Christie this week stressing that the measure would make it easier for more New Jersey residents to cast ballots and would bring the state's "voting practices into the 21^st century."

"The right to vote is meant to be the great equalizer, but that equality only has meaning if we have equal access to the ballot box," the coalition says in the letter, according to a copy obtained by NJ Advance Media. "Unfortunately, narrow windows for participation, outdated voting practices and New Jersey's failure to take advantage of technology create unnecessary hurdles for far too many New Jerseyans and limit full participation in our democracy."

If signed by Christie, the measure (A4613) would allow for more early voting options, online voter registration, and automatic registration at the Motor Vehicle Commission. It would also require pre-election materials to be printed in more languages. 

And it would clear up New Jersey's contradictory U.S. Senate succession laws and curtail the governor's power in appointing temporary senators by requiring them to be from the same party as the person who vacated the seat.

It remains unclear whether Christie will sign the measure. During his monthly radio show in June, the governor — a Republican presidential candidate — expressed concerns about automatic voter registration.

"I don't think that people ought to be automatically registered to vote," he said. "Is it really too much to ask to ask someone to fill out a form?"

Christie also suggested the bill is an attempt by the Democratic National Committee to increase voter fraud.

"There's no question in my mind that there are some advocates of this who are looking to increase the opportunity for voter fraud," he said on the radio show. "I think there's much more politics behind this than there is democracy."

Brian Murray, a spokesman for Christie's office, said Monday that "we cannot comment until (the bill has) been fully reviewed on this end, per usual on most bills."

Christie has also criticized former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, after she called for every American to be automatically registered to vote when they turn 18 unless they choose not to be. She also suggested Republican-backed voter fraud prevention laws in Texas and Wisconsin curtail minority and youth voting.

Christie said in June that Clinton "doesn't know what she's talking about."

The coalition noted that it sent the letter during the week of the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which Congress passed in 1965 to prohibit racial discrimination in voting across the nation.

Analilia Mejia, executive director of New Jersey Working Families — one of the group's leading the initiative — stressed that New Jersey ranks toward the bottom of the 50 states for voter registration and participation  "thanks to outdated voting practices that don't reflect modern life, modern families or modern technology."

"How can the governor say with a straight face that he should lead the greatest democracy in the world if he won't strengthen democracy and protect voters in his own state?" Mejia asked.

Here is the full list of the 35 groups that signed the letter:

AFSCME Council 1

American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey

Blue Wave NJ

Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law

Clean Water Action

Communication Workers of America District 1

Committee of Interns and Residents

DEMOS

Environment NJ

La Casa De Don Pedro

Latino Action Network

Laundry Distribution and Food Services, Joint Board, Workers United

League of Women Voters of New Jersey

Make the Road New Jersey

NAACP New Jersey State Chapter

National Organization of Women of New Jersey

New Jersey Black Issues Convention

New Jersey Citizen Action

New Jersey Communities United

New Jersey Education Association

New Jersey PIRG Citizens Lobby

New Jersey Progressive Democrats for America

New Jersey State Industrial Union Council

New Jersey Working Families

Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters

Rutgers Council of AAUP Chapters — AFT

Save Our Schools March

Sierra Club, NJ

SEIU 32BJ

SEIU 1199

SEIU State Council

SEIU New Jersey State Council

Teamsters Local 469

Union of Rutgers Administrators — AFT Local 176

Wayne League of Women Voters

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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

With affordable housing out of Christie's hands, N.J. towns haveopportunity to increase diversity | Opinion

A state Supreme Court ruling in March took affordable housing funding out of the hands of the Christie administration. (Mitsu Yasukawa/The Star-Ledger)

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/06/with_affordable_housing_out_of_christies_hands_nj.html#incart_email_mobile

By Christian Estevez

 

New Jersey is one of the most diverse states in our country. It has, however, not fully realized the strength of its diversity. It remains, after several decades of legal battles and public discourse, one of the most segregated states in the nation. It has sluggishly moved forward towards desegregating itself, and has often met roadblocks that continue—to this very day—decades of relative disadvantage for minority children in impoverished regions. 

According to an April 20 Star-Ledger article on poverty and children in New Jersey, "one-third of black children and 29 percent of Latino children and 20 percent of children of mixed race lived below the poverty line in 2013." As a state with such rich financial and educational wealth, we should not allow our children to grow up in two different New Jerseys—one for those with opportunity and another for those without it. Our country's national discussion on income inequality has awakened our desire to discuss the often-ignored plight of our working-class brothers and sisters. It should be as critical to also engage our communities in discussing the perils of geographically-based segregation on children and families.

In March, our state Supreme Court took issue with the manner in which Gov. Chris Christie refused to comply with our fair housing laws. After years of an inactive, sluggish approach at enforcing fair housing requirements, as mandated by our state constitution and state Fair Housing Act, a unanimous court ruled that municipalities must act, by this July, to move forward on creating housing units for our state's poorest families. The decision takes enforcement of fair housing laws out of the hands of Gov. Christie, who has consistently blocked that enforcement, and allows towns to fulfill their requirements accordingly. This ruling should be heralded as a win for all of our children. A town with economic and social diversity can serve as a model for what our state, and ultimately our nation, can achieve when it works together to end discriminatory practices in the most cherished part of our lives: our home.

A report released by Harvard researchers in April, and featured recently in the New York Times, concluded that living in more integrated communities has a dramatic effect on families. University researchers studied data collected over more than a decade and determined that the younger a child moves into a community of opportunity, the more his or her earnings will increase when they reach working-age adulthood.

The study looked at the nation's largest 100 counties and found that the younger a child when he or she moves to a new community, the more likely they are to earn more than those who remain in an impoverished region. One telling example looks at male children born in Baltimore, one of the nation's highest poverty cities, who remained within the city well into adulthood. Data reveals that these male adults earned 25 percent less than other boys, also born in Baltimore, who moved to a region with more social and economic opportunities. Overall, research revealed that, nation-wide, children who remained in impoverished cities through adulthood would go on to make, on average, 35 percent less than their low-income counterparts who grow up in more economically advantaged communities. The same Harvard study also revealed that two of the ten highest opportunity communities in the country are Bergen and Middlesex counties.

These statistics reveal a critical issue that New Jersey must adequately face. As a state, we must not only strive to achieve economic opportunities for families living in urban, low-income regions, but we must also work to desegregate all communities. If we are to work towards more stable jobs, and better opportunities for children across New Jersey, regardless of race or ethnicity, we must create equal opportunities in all of our municipalities, consistent with the true intent of the N.J. Supreme Court's Mount Laurel decisions and state Fair Housing Act. The recent court decision offers the hope of greater opportunity in New Jersey.

It is an opportunity we must seize now.

Christian Estevez is executive vice president of the Latino Action Network.

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Sign the Petition Urging Governor Chris Christie to Withdraw HisSupport from the Lawsuit Opposing President Obama's Executive Actionfor Immigrants

The Latino Action Network (LAN) has sent a letter to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie urging him to withdraw his support for a lawsuit challenging President Obama's Executive Action for immigrants.  The lawsuit, filed by 26 states, has led to an injunction of the Executive Action on DACA and DAPA, delaying relief for immigrant families in New Jersey. 

Please join us in calling on Governor Christie to withdraw his support for the lawsuit against Executive Action for Immigrants by signing the petition below:

[Sign the petition HERE urging Governor Chris Christie to withdraw his opposition the Executive Action for Immigrants.]

Christie Hypocrisy on Display: New Jersey Joins Lawsuit to Block Obama’s Executive Order on Immigration

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie with Mitt Romney during 2012 presidential campaign stop.  Romney at the time took the position that the United States should make life so hard on immigrants that they would deport themselves.

Christie Hypocrisy on Display

New Jersey Joins Lawsuit to Block Obama’s Executive Order on Immigration

For Immediate Release: March 26, 2015

Contacts:

Frank Argote-Freyre, President – 908-670-0552

Christian Estevez, Executive Vice President – 973-418-7012

Rudy Rodas, Co-Chair, Immigration Committee – 201-381-1819

Statement of the Latino Action Network Steering Committee

            Governor Christie yesterday, in a cynical political ploy, entered New Jersey into a federal lawsuit aimed at blocking an executive order by President Obama allowing some undocumented immigrants to remain in the country without fear of deportation. The move underlies the hypocrisy Governor Christie has always displayed towards the Latino community. To national audiences he has proclaimed himself a candidate with appeal in the Latino community while guarding any details about his national policies on immigration. New Jersey’s entry into the lawsuit, although nearly 20 percent of the state’s population are Latinos, should serve as a wake-up call to anyone in the community that considers him a friend.

Christie’s efforts to secure the Republican presidential nomination have led him to undermine one of the most significant bills he signed into law during his tenure as the State’s Chief Executive. When Christie signed the In-State Tuition Equality bill in 2013 at Union City High School, he essentially articulated the need for immigration reform as the basis of his support of undocumented students. The Governor said at the time:  “Even if you're cold-hearted about this, you can agree with the common sense of the economics.” “[O]ur job, I believe, as a government, is to give every one of these children, who we have already invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in, an opportunity to maximize that investment.”

By fighting against the expansion of executive programs that would give undocumented students permission to work legally in the United States, Christie is hindering these students’ ability to pay for their college education.

President Obama announced the executive order last year after Congress failed again to enact comprehensive immigration reform.

N.J. must stop Gov. Christie's defiance of state's Fair Housing Act: Opinion

By Frank Argote-Freyre and Richard T. Smith

Star-Ledger January 13, 2015

For the past five years, the Christie Administration has, at every turn, tried to undermine New Jersey’s Fair Housing Act, which guarantees that communities cannot use unfair land-use laws to keep out lower-income families, seniors and people with special needs. It is clear Gov. Chris Christie is opposed to this law. He called the original lawsuit that led to it, brought by two local chapters of the NAACP against Mount Laurel Township, an “abomination.” The NAACP acted, at that time, to prevent the displacement of a vibrant African-American community with a long history in the region.

It is unfortunate the Governor believes this lawsuit was inappropriate. The Christie Administration has gone so far as to obstruct and refuse to enforce laws emanating from that original civil rights decision. This is a dangerous precedent. Christie appears deeply committed to undermining the principles of the law and circumventing the legal system. First, he went to the Legislature and tried to change the law, but they refused to undercut basic civil rights protections. Then he went to the courts and tried to argue he did not have to comply with the law. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in September 2013 that he did. So now the Governor is attempting to defy both the Legislature and the courts by simply not acting in accordance with existing laws.

The Supreme Court heard arguments on the issue on Jan. 6. The Court thus should move forward with the only realistic option in front of it – allow the courts to directly hear fair housing challenges, instead of having them stalled in an administrative process going nowhere.

In its September 2013 decision, the Supreme Court ordered the Christie Administration to "eliminate the limbo in which municipalities, New Jersey citizens, developers, and affordable housing interest groups have lived for too long.” It required the Christie Administration to develop new rules to implement the Fair Housing Act within five months.

Christie appears deeply committed to undermining the principles of the law and circumventing the legal system.

On the last day of that five-month period, the Christie Administration asked for an indefinite extension to develop rules. The Supreme Court granted an extension, but put a time limit on it, saying that if rules were not finalized by Nov. 17, then the Court would consider taking steps to enforce the law through the court system directly.

The Christie Administration next proposed rules that were transparently ridiculous. Towns' fair housing obligations would be based on a spreadsheet that was supposedly “lost.” Land in Monmouth County was mislabeled as being in Ocean County. The State disregarded its own official growth projections to manipulate housing requirements so they were as low as possible. The state also assumed that growth would only occur and lower-income people would only live on undeveloped farms or forests, when in recent years the majority of development in New Jersey has been redevelopment of existing land in places like Montclair, Summit and Red Bank.

After public hearings drew angry responses and the Christie Administration received more than 3,000 comments, they refused to make changes to correct these flaws. But fortunately, half the members of the Council on Affordable Housing, which had ultimate authority over the proposed rules, refused to go along with such an obvious attempt to undermine the Fair Housing Act. As such, no rules were adopted by the Nov. 17 deadline, and the State failed to comply with the Supreme Court’s deadline even after the extension.

Now, the Supreme Court is considering what to do next. There must be no more extensions or delays. Tens of thousands of people waiting for a decent place to live - a number made significantly bigger after Superstorm Sandy - have waited long enough. The Christie Administration’s process is a dead end, and the regulations that were proposed were not a good faith response. It is time for the courts to ensure that their decisions are followed, and directly enforce the state’s fair housing laws since the Christie Administration apparently refuses to do so.

Frank Argote-Freyre is president of the Latino Action Network and Richard T. Smith is president of the NAACP New Jersey State Conference.

The original article can be found at:

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/01/nj_must_stop_gov_christies_defiance_states_fair_housing_act_opinion.html