Elizabeth Warren on Immigration Massachusetts Senator; former head of CFPB; Dem. Presidential Challenger

Restore aid to Central America to reduce emigration

When I first read about our government spending our tax dollars to take children away from their families, a year-and-a-half ago, I went down to the border, to McAllen, Texas. I saw a cage of nursing mothers [and one why said she fled] Central America: She had given a drink to a police officer, and the next day, she got the word that the gangs believed she was working with the police. She knew that meant that she and her baby would be killed. So she wrapped her baby up and she ran for our border. So what we have to do is we have to restore aid in Central America, get our allies to do that, help stabilize those governments, so people don't feel that they have to flee for their lives in order to have any future.

Path to citizenship for all here will strengthen America

We cannot be a nation that puts children and adults in cages

Stop the man-made "crisis" at the southern border

WARREN: If there are parts of the wall that are not useful in our defense, of course we should do it. The real point here is that we need to stop this manmade crisis at the border. Trump is the one who has created this crisis, and he has done it in no small part by helping destabilize the governments even further in Central America. He has withdrawn aid. That means that families have to flee for their lives, have to flee for any economic opportunity. We need to treat the people who come here with dignity and with respect. A great nation does not separate children from their families. We need to live our values at the border every single day.

Expand legal immigration, including for visa overstays

WARREN: Well, I start with a statement of principles, and that is, in this country, immigration does not make us weaker, immigration makes us stronger. I want to see us expand legal immigration and create a pathway to citizenship for our DREAMers, but also for their grandparents, and for their cousins, for people who have overstayed student visas, and for people who came here to work in the fields. I want to have a system that is a path to citizenship that is fair and achievable.

Down at the border, we've got to rework this entirely. A system right now that cannot tell the difference in the threat posed by a terrorist, a criminal, and a 12-year-old girl is not a system that is keeping us safer, and it is not serving our values.

We're not going to give up DACA, or any protections

Joe BIDEN: What Latinos should look at is comparing [Obama policy to Trump policy]. We didn't lock people up in cages. We didn't separate families. [Obama] came along with the DACA program. No one had ever done that before. [Obama] wanted to find a pathway for the 11 million undocumented. This is a president who's done a great deal.

CASTRO: My problem with Vice President Biden is every time something good about Barack Obama comes up, he says, oh, I was there, and every time somebody questions part of the administration that we were both part of, he says, well, that was the president. I was the first candidate to put forward an immigration plan. We're not going to give up DACA. We're not going to give up protections for anybody.

Fix the crisis at the border; don't just stir it up

WARREN: We have to be an America that is clear about what we want to do with immigration. We need to expand legal immigration. We need to create a path for citizenship, not just for DREAMers but for grandmas and for people who have been working here in the farms and for students who have overstayed their visas. We need to fix the crisis at the border. And a big part of how we do that, is we do not play into Donald Trump's hands. President Trump wants to stir up the crisis at the border because that's his overall message. It's -- if there's anything wrong in your life, blame them.

Laws matter; don't lock up people who come seeking asylum

Gov. Steve BULLOCK: You are playing into Donald Trump's hands. The challenge isn't that it's a criminal offense to cross the border. The challenge is that Donald Trump is president and using this to rip families apart. A sane immigration system needs a sane leader. And we can do that without decriminalizing and providing health care for everyone. And it's not me saying that, that's Obama's Homeland Security secretary that said you'll cause further problems at the border, not making it better.

WARREN: What you're saying is ignore the law. Laws matter. It matters if we say our law is that we will lock people up who come here, seeking refuge, seeking asylum. That is not a crime. We need to have a sane system that keeps us safe at the border, but does not criminalize the activity of a mother fleeing here for safety.

We need border security but must live by our values

A border wall is about hate & division, not security

Bring people out of shadow economy & help social security

Supports President Obama's immigration reform

Support the DREAM Act: let immigrants into army or college

Strongly supports the DREAM Act

Warren said she strongly supports the Dream Act.

Support the DREAM Act: Let kids stay

The Brown campaign called Warren "an extreme liberal on illegal immigration who supports amnesty and even wants to reward illegal immigrants with low in-state tuition rates financed by taxpayers." A Brown spokeswoman added: "This is a key difference between Professor Warren and Senator Brown. Senator Brown believes we are a nation of immigrants and we should welcome those who seek a better life in America, but we are also a nation of laws that have to be respected and observed."

Opposes "Secure Communities" immigration enforcement program

Provide lawyers and evidence for children being deported.

This bill authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to appoint or provide counsel at government expense to aliens in removal proceedings.