By Anthony Cacciato
ROCKVILLE CENTRE – Immigration has been a core legislative priority of the Trump Administration over the last two years, with the GOP’s common sense immigration policy propelling President Trump (R-FL) to the White House in 2024.
While the House Majority has diligently worked to implement these policies, including Long Island Congressmen Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) and Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), Democratic Congresswoman Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) has continued to vote against these policies which keep Long Islanders safe. While she and her colleague Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) have attempted to paint themselves as moderates on issues like immigration, her record tells a much different story.
When she ran for Congress two years ago, Gillen ran on working across the aisle to secure the border. In Congress, she’s done just the opposite. Gillen has voted against a number of bills which would help strengthen and provide tools to our immigration law enforcement, including $10 billion for personnel expansion and $46.5 billion to restart construction of the border wall. Just last month, Gillen joined Democrats in taking a party-line vote against fully funding CBP and ICE, boosting law enforcement, and locking in border security through 2029.
Beyond enforcement, Gillen has voted against efforts to protect taxpayer dollars and our elections, rejecting common sense policies like the SAVE Act and removing illegal immigrants from programs like Medicaid, which would discourage illegal immigration and put money back into taxpayers’ pockets. When Republicans moved to stop forcing taxpayers to fund free health care for illegal immigrants, Laura Gillen joined her colleagues twice to vote for a government shutdown.
What is most alarming is how Laura Gillen continues to hold the line against securing the border and protecting Long Islanders despite the persistent issue of illegal immigration in New York State, especially on Long Island. Just last month, an illegal immigrant stabbed his neighbor to death 50 times before driving to the Wendy’s where he worked and murdering a coworker in Lynbrook, inside Gillen’s district. Days after the gruesome double murder, another criminal illegal immigrant brutally beat up a man behind a dumpster and then raped him in Amityville, right on the border of Gillen’s district. While Republicans have been at work fighting to prevent violent criminals from harming Long Islanders, Gillen has time and time again voted against the measures that would combat violent criminals like those terrorizing her own constituents.
If her voting record doesn’t speak for her, her closest political allies tell the same story. Laura Gillen has been a strong ally of Governor Kathy Hochul (D-Hamburg) for almost a decade, saying that, “we are lucky to have such a powerful, intelligent woman running our state.”
Gillen’s relationship with Hochul isn’t just a formality; when she was elected as Hempstead Town Supervisor, she had Kathy Hochul swear her in, showing just how closely tied the two are. As Governor, Kathy Hochul has consistently stood at odds with law enforcement upholding our immigration laws, stopping state and local law enforcement from engaging in formal or informal cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and stopping state jails from detaining anyone based on immigration status.
She has also proudly carried the endorsement of the Working Families Party, a radical third party which calls for ICE to be abolished and sanctuary policies. The Working Families Party has been one of the primary driving forces pushing the Democratic Party to the left in New York, and as Kathy Hochul continues to cozy up to radicals in the New York Democratic party like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-Astoria), it is only a matter of time before Laura Gillen feels the pressure to follow suit and vote for even more radical policies.
Legal immigration is one of the things which makes America great, which is why it’s so important to enforce our immigration laws and ensure that those who wish to become a citizen of the greatest country on Earth do so the proper way, keeping violent criminals off of the street. Laura Gillen lied to Long Islanders when she said she’d work with anyone to secure the border. By standing with violent criminals and radical politicians in the Democratic Party, Laura Gillen is standing against the interests of legal immigrants, our law enforcement, and Long Islanders. We deserve representatives on Long Island who will continue to do the work necessary to keep our communities safe and work alongside the House majority to represent the majority of constituents who believe in common sense immigration policy. Laura Gillen’s broken promises and radical record speak for themselves, and Long Island voters deserve to know the truth when they cast their votes this November.
Anthony Cacciato is a regular contributor to The Messenger’s Opinion Column. He is a proud Huntington resident and Carnegie Mellon University alumnus.
