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NYC Mayor Bloomberg wants election debate on immigration

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to ignite debate over immigration among the presidential contenders. WAMC's Dave Lucas has details...

Bloomberg joined former White House Chief of Staff William Daley on Tuesday in addressing business leaders in Chicago, telling them that immigrants and the jobs and businesses they create are essential to America's economic recovery.

Bloomberg says he knows of no other way to help the economy "as quickly and cost free" as opening the borders to those who would start up new businesses that create new jobs.

Bloomberg and Daley lamented that neither presidential campaign has spelled out proposals on immigration policy.

They also presented a report released Tuesday by a partnership of U.S. mayors and business leaders showing that immigrants started one out of four new businesses last year.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.