Norwood News

Over the past couple of weeks, City Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera has been speaking out against new U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s positions on immigration issues.

On Feb. 1, Rivera attended a meeting with Gillibrand and other New York lawmakers intended to address concerns about her voting record on immigration during her two years in the House of Representatives.

After the meeting, Gillibrand, an upstate New Yorker, suggested she might be willing to change some positions and pledged to consult with the group on upcoming immigration policy decisions.

Rivera, however, remains unsatisfied. After the meeting, he declined to stand with Gillibrand at her press conference and instead held a press conference of his own, saying, “We cannot afford to stand with someone who will make no commitment [to us]. We have been given a lot of rhetoric over the years. We need action.”

His spokesman, Angel Audiffred, said that the action Rivera would most like to see from Gillibrand would be her support for an executive order stopping all deportations of immigrants. Rivera believes such deportations often separate families, dividing American-born children from their immigrant mothers, Audiffred said.

He added that Rivera remains upset about specific Gillibrand positions, including legislation she co-sponsored that would require local police to take on immigration enforcement duties, her support for English-only policies, and that Gillibrand “appeared to oppose any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.”

“Now that she will be representing a far broader and more diverse constituency, Senator Gillibrand must reconsider her positions on immigration,” Rivera said in a statement.

Several other Bronx politicians have been highly critical of Gillibrand’s positions on immigration, including Assemblyman Peter Rivera, who led the initial charge against Gillibrand, Assemblyman Jose Rivera and Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito.