CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2018: on Immigration

Beto O`Rourke: End the inhumane & un-American practice of family separation

O'ROURKE: It is a mix of kids who made that 2,000-mile journey on their own and kids who made that journey with their parents. And, at the moment that they finally thought they had reached safety, and were going to petition for asylum, they were taken from their parents.

Q: What do you say to that argument, that this is all about deterrence?

O'ROURKE: Things have to be really bad for you to leave Honduras, travel 2,000 miles, and hope that once you get here to try to request asylum, only to find that your child will be taken from you. This is inhumane. I would like to say it is un-American, but it's happening right now in America. And that is why we are marching to Tornillo today to bear witness, to make sure everyone in America knows that this is going on. I am working with my colleagues to end the practice of family separation.

Beto O`Rourke: No 2,000-mile, 30-foot-high, $30 billion wall

O'ROURKE: I think this one is going to be on the American people. And I think, when we make the choice clear that we can do the right thing by this country and for those kids, and not do it at the price of a 2,000-mile, 30-foot-high, $30 billion wall, not doing it at the price of deporting people who are seeking asylum, deporting people in some cases back to certain death, not doing it at the cost of ending family migration, which is the story of this country, certainly of the O'Rourkes, and millions of families who have fled terror or starvation in their countries to be here, I think the American people are going to force us to do the right thing. That always happens in America. It is frustrating. It's slow. It doesn't happen right away. But, ultimately, we get it right. And I'm confident that the American people this time are going to get it right.

Bernie Sanders: Provide legal status to the 1.8 million DREAMers

SANDERS: I think it is heartless. I think the entire Trump views on immigration is heartless. Some 80% of the American people believe that we should provide legal status to the 1.8 million people in the DACA program. And that's a program that Trump killed. The American people believe that we should move forward for comprehensive immigration reform. And Trump is moving in exactly the wrong direction. And we see the cruelty of his immigration policies when you talk about the United States government separating children from their parents. We need to move aggressively and do what the American people want toward comprehensive immigration reform.

Tim Kaine: DREAMers & DACA saved by executive order, not Congress

(BEGIN VIDEO) TRUMP: I say this to DACA recipients--that the Republicans are with you. They want to get your situation taken care of. The Democrats fought us. They did not want DACA in this bill.

(END VIDEO) Q: Do Democrats risk losing the support of Americans who overwhelmingly want this fixed?

KAINE: That quote of the president, he is either lying or he is completely delusional. Why is there DACA? Because a Democratic president, President Obama, supported by Democratic legislators, put it in place in 2012. Why is DACA threatened? Because a Republican president, Donald Trump, supported by Republican legislators, announced that the program was going to be ended. One person can save DACA. If President Trump believes in DACA, all he has to do is retract his executive order from September, where he broke a promise to DREAMers and said he was going to end the program.