State of California secondary Archives: on Immigration

Barbara Boxer: Cosponsored DREAM Act: legal status from college or military

Bill Simon: Immigration system needs fundamental reform

A: Immigration is what makes our country and our state great. But our immigration system is broken, and needs fundamental reform. I support President Bush’s efforts to fix the system and look forward to working with him to achieve this goal. I am also committed to raising the quality of life in California for all our citizens.

Caitlyn Jenner: For a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants

Caitlyn Jenner: Would try to repeal California's sanctuary state status

Carly Fiorina: No comprehensive reform; but yes to DREAM Act

Doug Ose: Set standards for DACA kids, some should be deported

Elizabeth Emken: Comprehensive solution that starts by securing our borders

Elizabeth Emken: We must approach the illegal immigration issue with a comprehensive solution that starts by securing our borders. Until we do, we cannot adequately address the other problems with immigration. We also need to ensure a vibrant guest worker program.

Gray Davis: Diversity is our strength; welcome all good citizens

A: We are the most diverse people on the planet Earth. It is a strength, and it's my function & duty to persuade people of the benefits they receive from sharing this state with people from all over the country - all over the world. I recognize the reality that we are living in. I think all people, regardless of their status, ought to be treated with dignity and respect. Immigrants work hard to overcome their resistance. To California's credit, we say: "you are the best employee, we are hiring you." Or they make the best product, and we say: "we're going to buy that product." And that is one of the real reasons why this economy is as good as it is. Alan Greenspan said all that extra work that immigrants expend to prove their doubters wrong, economists call productivity. If you're a good citizen we want you to be part of our economy.

Herman Cain: Secure the border with more boots on the ground

Secondly, let's promote the path to citizenship that's already there. We don't need a new one, we just need to clean up the bureaucracy that's slowing the process down and discouraging people.

The third thing we need to do, enforce the laws that are there, and the way we do it, empower the states. I believe that the people closest to the problem are the best ones to be able to solve that problem. Empower the states to do what the federal government hasn't done, can't do, and won't do. This is how we solve the entire problem.

Jimmy Gomez: Deporting parents of U.S. citizens is morally wrong

Jimmy Panetta: Let DREAMers earn their way to citizenship

John Melendez: Find path for immigrants here illegally

Jon Huntsman: Focus on fixing legal immigration as well as illegal

Yes, they came here in an illegal fashion. And yes, they should be punished in some form or fashion.

We can find a solution. If President Reagan were here, he would speak to the American people and he would lay out in hopeful, optimistic terms how we can get there, remembering full well that we're dealing with human beings here. We have to agree.

But let me just say one thing about legal immigration. Let's not lose sight of the fact that our legal immigration system is broken. And if we want to do something about attracting brain power to this country, we need to focus as much on legal immigration.

Karen Bass: Human services for immigrants and their children

A: Yes.

Kevin Faulconer: Repeal Medicaid expansion to undocumented immigrants

Kevin Paffrath: Our current legal immigration system sucks

Michele Bachmann: Our immigration law worked beautifully until 1960s

And the one thing they had to promise is that they would not become a burden on the American taxpayer. That's what we have to enforce.

Michele Bachmann: Lack of border fence yields our sovereignty

A: Understand the context and the problem that we're dealing with. In Mexico right now, we're dealing with narco terrorists. This is a very serious problem. To not build a border or a fence on every part of that border would be, in effect, to yield US sovereignty, to yield it to another nation. That we cannot do.

Q: What do you do with 11.5 million illegals?

A: It depends upon where they live, how long they have been here, if they have a criminal record. All of those things have to be taken into place.

Mitt Romney: Build 2,600-mile fence with enough guards to secure it

A: Well, first, we ought to have a fence.

Q: The whole fence, 2,600 miles?

A: Yes. We've got to have a fence, or the technologically approved system to make sure that we know who's coming into the country, number one. Number two, we ought to have enough agents to secure that fence and to make sure that people are coming over are caught. But the third thing [is to address employers attracting illegal immigrants].

Mitt Romney: Turn off the magnet that attracts immigrants

And I said, what do you mean, the magnet? And they said, when employers are willing to hire people who are here illegally, that's a magnet, and it draws them in. And sanctuary cities, giving tuition breaks to the kids of illegal aliens, employers that knowingly hire people who are here illegally. Those things also have to be stopped.

If we want to secure the border, we have to make sure we have a fence, determining where people are, enough agents to oversee it, & turn off that magnet. We can't talk about amnesty, we cannot give amnesty to those who have come here illegally.

We've got 4.7 million people waiting in line legally. Let those people come in first, and those that are here illegally, they shouldn't have a special deal.

Nanette Barragan: Comprehensive reform instead of fences and deportation

We need to focus on solutions like the comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that already passed the U.S. Senate with bipartisan support. In addition, we must provide a path to citizenship for immigrants who are working day in and day out to contribute to our nation's economy. The children of immigrants also require our attention and action. By supporting the DREAM Act, we are giving the sons and daughters of immigrants who were born outside of the U.S. but grew up here, a chance to take part in the American dream.

Newt Gingrich: Require official English plus American history

Newt Gingrich: I voted for Reagan's legal guest worker program

GINGRICH: I think we have to find a way to get to a country in which everybody who's here is here legally. But you referenced Pres. Reagan. In 1986, I voted for the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, which in fact did grant some amnesty in return for promises. Pres. Reagan wrote in his diary that year that he signed the act because we were going to control the border and we were going to have an employer program where it was a legal guest worker program. That's in his diary. I'm with Pres. Reagan. We ought to control the border, we ought to have a legal guest worker program. We ought to outsource it, frankly, to American Express, Visa, and MasterCard, so there's no counterfeiting, which there will be with the federal government. We should be very tough on employers once you have that legal program.

Peter Camejo: Immigrants are necessary to keeping the economy strong

A: I absolutely believe undocumented immigrants in California have a place here. A recent Wall Street Journal article shows how necessary immigrants are to keeping the economy strong. We need more immigrants, in fact. If immigrants are already here, then we can't treat them as if we're living in a caste system. We need to end the mistreatment of undocumented residents, legalize undocumented workers, and provide a legal driver's license for all immigrants.

Rick Perry: El Paso border is not safe until we have boots on the ground

PERRY: Well, the first thing you need to do is have boots on the ground. We've had a request in to this administration since 2009 for 1,000 border patrol agents or National Guard troops, and working towards 3,000 border patrol. That's just on the Texas border. There's another 50% more for the entire Mexican border. So you can secure the border, but it requires a commitment of the federal government of putting those boots on the ground, the aviation assets in the air. We think predator drones could be flown, that real-time information coming down to the local and the state and the federal law enforcement. And you can secure the border. And at that particular point in time, then you can have an intellectually appropriate discussion about immigration reform. For the President to go to El Paso, Texas, and say that the border is safer than it's ever been, either he has some of the poorest intel in history, or he was an abject liar. It is not safe on that border.

Rick Santorum: No tricks like 1986; secure the border first

A: We can have the discussion [afterwards, based on] how long they've been here, whether they had other types of records. But to have that discussion right now and pull the same trick that was pulled in 1986--we said, well, we'll promise to do this if you do that--no more. We are going to secure the border first, and that's the most important, then we'll have the discussion afterwards.

Rick Santorum: No promises & no government benefits to immigrants

SANTORUM: My solution is very similar to Newt Gingrich's. We should not have a debate talking about how we don't want people to come to this country, but we want them to come here like my grandfather and my father came here. They made sacrifices. They came in the 1920s. There were no promises. There were no government benefits. They came because they wanted to be free and they wanted to be good law-abiding citizens.

Ron Paul: ID cards and border fences are not the American way

We can enforce our law. If we had a healthy economy, this wouldn't be such a bad deal. People are worrying about jobs. But every time you think about this toughness on the border and I.D. cards and real ideas, think that it's a penalty against the American people, too.

Tom Del Beccaro: Immigration is a national security issue; ports are a danger

1. National Security: Immigration should now be viewed as the national security issue it has become. We can build a consensus on immigration by putting the interests of the entire country first.
2. Comprehensive Legislation Won't Work: 2,500 page bills are unlikely to pass and have proven to be a Pandora's box of bad provisions and policy. Therefore, Tom believes we need to take a piecemeal approach to solving the crisis.
3. Immediate Visa Reform. Up to half of those here illegally have overstayed their visas. We can reduce racial tension in this country by acknowledging that fact instead of implying all illegal immigration is from a single country.
4. All Ports of Entry. We must understand that all of our ports of entry represent a danger. Therefore, we need to bring added resources to protect all of them not some of them.