John Gomez campaigns as a tea party conservative

John Gomez is running hard against incumbent Steve Israel to represent the Second Congressional District in western Suffolk. In a district which includes both large immigrant communities and well-organized anti-immigrant groups, Gomez has focused on immigration, Latino street gangs, and American Muslims.

Gomez, who has been endorsed by both Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, issued a statement warning that while immigration in the past has helped America grow, today it forms a threat to “American culture”.

Gomez recently brought Minn. Congresswoman Michele Bachman to Suffolk

According to Gomez:

American culture can only endure if immigration is followed by assimilation. As Americans we must be accepting of other cultures without compromising our own, and we must celebrate diversity without losing our common American identity. In other words, the distinct American culture should be the reason immigrants seek to come here. So in opening our doors we must be resolute in maintaining our home. Today our immigration policy is incoherent and dangerous.

Gomez says that immigration today has compromised “our national security and [created] an environment of uncertainty, fear and vulnerability.” He says that undocumented immigration is a “recipe for national bankruptcy” because he believes, incorrectly, that the undocumented are entitled to extensive social services.

In addition to hiring more border patrol agents and continuing to build “the fence”, both of which are already being done by the Obama administration, Gomez says that the most important target for immigration enforcement should be the American-born children of undocumented immigrants. Gomez claims that these children are not U.S. citizens saying:

The practice of granting birthright citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants must end (it is not supported by our Constitution).

As I have pointed out repeatedly elsewhere, birthright citizenship is not a “practice”, it is a Constitutional mandate under the clear language of the 14^th Amendment. Gomez might want to take a look at that century and a half old part of our supreme law before taking any oath of office in which he is required to swear to uphold it.

Gomez also ties violent crime in his district, one of the safest in the country, to illegal immigration. He recently told a community news source that:

We are already late in addressing the growing crime and violence in our communities. I believe in the “broken windows” philosophy in fighting crime that former NYC Mayor Giuliani applied. Law enforcement must be applied in all areas of illegal behavior. From littering and vandalism, to drugs and illegal immigration – we must stop the cycle of criminal behavior in our communities. Once we allow certain crimes to go unpunished – more violent crime will follow.

Gomez continued:

if a person fails to follow the law in entering into this country – then that person is a criminal. Criminals must be prosecuted for their criminal behavior. If a society allows criminals to go unpunished – the quality of life will go down for everyone. Our communities will soon suffer from chaos and disorder. Recently, the state of Arizona, being burdened with over 500,000 illegal immigrants, has attempted to use local law enforcement to enforce the immigration laws. Steve Israel supports our president’s lawsuit against Arizona, claiming our country cannot have 50 different laws on immigration. He insists that all states must follow the federal law. However, by supporting sanctuary cities – Steve Israel also supports those states that are ignoring our immigration laws. Therefore, Steve Israel supports one federal law addressing illegal immigration, but doesn’t want to enforce the law. I do not support sanctuary cities and will fight to cut federal non-security spending funds to towns and cities that ignore our immigration laws. Second, I will secure the borders. Once we secure the borders, we can intelligently and humanely deal with those who are here illegally. Finally, I am a strict constructionist and believe the 14th amendment is not being used as it was intentionally written. (It was designed to protect the rights of and ensure citizenship to African Americans recently freed from slavery.) With that, I do not believe that those born to illegal immigrants automatically gain citizenship to this nation and will support legislation that enforces the original intent of that amendment.

A rather odd view of the 14^th Amendment.

Were it accepted by the courts, only “African Americans recently freed from slavery” could seek redress under it.

Gomez has also attacked Congressman Israel in an advertisement for not condemning the downtown Islamic cultural center in Manhattan. Gomez says:

I believe you can put a Japanese cultural center anywhere in the United States — just not at Pearl Harbor.

I note that there is a Shinto shrine near Pearl Harbor.

Tags: John Gomez, Steve Israel, Suffolk, tea, tea party

This entry was posted on October 17, 2010 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Blog Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.