With less than 100 days until Election Day, in the race for New York’s 19th Congressional District, Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro and his Democratic challenger Josh Riley have been criticizing each other during press conferences, over social media and in attack ads. One issue that consistently arises is immigration.
Republican candidates have been attacking President Joe Biden's administration and Democrats over immigration policy for years. But recently, several Democratic challengers, including Riley, have zeroed in on border security as well, criticizing both their Republican opponents and even Biden.
Riley recently put out an ad highlighting immigration as a key issue in the race. During a press conference in June, he lambasted both Molinaro and Biden for what he called a crisis.
“The Southern Border is an absolute disaster,” Riley said. “Our immigration system is completely broken and Joe Biden, Marc Molinaro and career politicians in Washington are failing us by refusing to fix it. I understand that not enough Democrats will say that, but you deserve leaders who say it like it is.”
Riley blamed Molinaro for voting against a bipartisan Senate border security proposal earlier this year. The border deal was blocked by Republican lawmakers after former President Donald Trump lobbied against it.
Molinaro has defended his choice to vote down the border security bill, arguing it didn’t go far enough. He and other congressional Republicans recently proposed a bill that would create a database within the Department of Homeland Security tracking all undocumented immigrants convicted of a felony.
“President Biden still refuses to close the border and Governor Hochul is still keeping New York’s sanctuary policies intact. They have completely tied the hands of local law enforcement and ICE. We need this registry so they can do their jobs and prevent more violent crimes,” Molinaro said.
Molinaro held his own press conference earlier in July, arguing Riley, as a private practice attorney, worked to “dismantle and undo border security policy.”
“He doesn’t get to rewrite history," Molinaro said. "He was a legal activist that helped to undo President Trump’s border security policy, his own website celebrates a bill he helped craft that would have allowed for mass amnesty, and he has been lockstep with this president’s policy of total surrender of the Southern Border since day one."
Molinaro said Riley helped craft a bill put forward by the U.S. Senate that would have “allowed for mass amnesty,” referencing a 2013 bipartisan immigration reform proposal that would have offered temporary status and a path to citizenship to some undocumented immigrants.
Riley worked as counsel to former U.S. Sen. Al Franken during that time, and references his work on the bill on his website.
A recent Molinaro attack ad also criticized Riley’s work with a law firm that was hired to file briefs in several immigration lawsuits, including a challenge to the Trump administration's travel ban.
The ban barred travel to the United States from some majority-Muslim countries, and was upheld by the Supreme Court after some revisions were made. President Biden ended the ban on his first day in office.
“I represented senior Homeland Security officials, many from Republican administrations, who argued for stronger immigration laws that screen immigrants based on whether they pose a risk to public safety, not whether they pass a religious litmus test,” Riley said in a statement. “That’s common sense to just about everyone except Marc Molinaro.”
The number of migrants illegally crossing the Southern Border has fallen as Biden tightens asylum restrictions.
The 19th Congressional District, which includes the areas of Oneonta, Ithaca, Binghamton and Cortland, could end up being one of New York’s closest races. It could also potentially determine whether Republicans keep a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Molinaro secured a narrow victory against Riley in 2022. The latest fundraising numbers show Riley outraising Molinaro by $1.7 million. But recent internal polling from the Molinaro campaign shows Molinaro ahead by 9 points.