CBS "Face the Nation" interviews during 2019: on Immigration
Ilhan Omar:
Seeking asylum is a right; policy should be humane and just
Q: The administration had a victory in the courts because they're upholding the ability of the administration to put into place new restrictions on the ability to claim asylum here.OMAR: I believe that decision is morally and legally wrong.
Seeking asylum is a legal right that people have and we know that the Supreme Court has been wrong before. What we now have an opportunity to do as legislators is make sure that we are creating immigration policy that is humane and just.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 on 2018 Congress MN-5 election
Sep 15, 2019
Julian Castro:
Always for secure border and apprehending criminals
Q: When you were mayor of San Antonio you called for increased border security measures and praised the Obama administration's actions.
Why did you praise that policy but when the Trump administration adopts similar language and policies, you're hypercritical of them?
CASTRO: I talked about people who committed serious crimes, dangerous criminals. If there are people who have committed serious felonies in the United States who are immigrants or who come to the border, I have always consistently said that those
people should be apprehended, that they should be deported. I haven't changed that at all. I don't have an issue with maintaining a secure border. What I have an issue with is separating little children from their parents.
Source: CBS Face the Nation interviews in 2019
Jul 28, 2019
John Delaney:
Treat those who cross our borders with measure of dignity
I wouldn't decriminalize border crossings, but I would make it illegal to separate children from their families. We have to treat people who cross our borders with a measure of dignity. It has to be reflective of our values. We need comprehensive
immigration reform. We need to fix what's going on in those Central American countries. Unless we do things to rebuild civil society in the three Central American countries, we're going to continue to have this refugee crisis.
Source: CBS Face the Nation interviews in 2019
Jul 7, 2019
Ken Cuccinelli:
Detain and then deport one million undocumented immigrants
The Trump administration's top official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said immigration authorities are ready to identify, detain and eventually deport approximately one million undocumented immigrants with pending removal
orders. "They're ready to just perform their mission, which is to go and find and detain and then deport the approximately one million people who have final removal orders," Acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli said on "Face the Nation."
Cuccinelli, an immigration hardliner who took the helm of the agency last month, said it is within ICE's discretion to determine who among those with final orders of deportation will be targeted in operations, suggesting the full pool of approximately
one million immigrants might not face deportation after all. "They've been all the way through the due process and have final removal orders. Who among those will be targeted for this particular effort is kept within ICE at this point," he added.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview of Trump Cabinet members
Jul 7, 2019
Amy Klobuchar:
Comprehensive immigration reform is an economic issue
The people who are here on temporary legal status, we've got hundreds of thousands of people that are legally here that are at risk or are being deported that work in our nursing homes and our hospitals. We have got DREAMers, two million of them,
that came to this country through no fault of their own and are a major part of our economy. So, we need to have an economic discussion, as well as a border discussion and that's why I want to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview series
Jun 30, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Keep asylum laws; let refugees apply from home countries
We should follow our asylum laws that are on the books. I think that asylum seekers should be able to apply from their home countries, without having to make that journey by
foot in the first place, it will ensure that they are following our laws and it will guarantee greater safety and reduce suffering for them.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview
Jun 30, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
End family separation; rewrite law from ground up
Day one we are going to stop family separation. We're going to reunite those families who have been separated. We're going to make sure that no one who is fleeing persecution or violence is criminally prosecuted. Then we're going to rewrite our
immigration laws from the ground up, that the nine million green card holders in this country, we're going to waive their citizenship fees so they can contribute even more to our success and our greatness.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview
Jun 30, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Asylum seekers should be able to apply from home countries
I think that asylum seekers should be able to apply from their home countries. So from Honduras or Guatemala or El Salvador to the United States, without having to make that journey by foot in the first place,
it will ensure that they are following our laws and it will guarantee greater safety and reduce suffering for them.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview series
Jun 30, 2019
Mike Pence:
Conditions at borders is fault of Democrats in Congress
When the President declared a national emergency, we were asking Congress to give us more bed space. Democrats in Congress refused. We've asked for more bed space we've asked for more support. The system is overwhelmed.
We're doing a lot with what the Congress has given us. They continue to delay efforts on additional humanitarian support.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview
Jun 23, 2019
Mike Pence:
Asked for humanitarian help, Congress continues to delay
Q: Some of the conditions at the border have been described as "crisis level" in the facilities that the United States is running. Is that acceptable?PENCE: It's totally unacceptable.
Customs and Border Patrol agents are being overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of people coming across our border to take advantage of loopholes in our laws.
We've asked for more bed space; we've asked for more support. We're doing a lot with what the Congress has given us.
Congress refused to increase the bed space in the last appropriations bill. They continue to delay efforts on additional humanitarian support.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview series
Jun 23, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Those seeking asylum pose no threat
Most of those asylum-seeking migrants pose no threat or danger to the United States. We know from past history that when we connect them with case managers in a community, they have a 99% chance of meeting their court dates and their appointments with
ICE. It costs us a tenth of what we pay to keep them in detention and in custody. If at the end of that process they must return to their country of origin, I want to make sure that they follow our laws.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls
May 26, 2019
Kirsten Gillibrand:
For border security, but don't harm asylum seekers
I would fund the border security measures that are anti-terrorism, anti-human trafficking, anti-drug trafficking, and anti-gun trafficking and I would defund these for-profit prison systems that are harming children and harming families who are seeking
our asylum. If someone is seeking asylum, I would assign them a lawyer. They don't need to be incarcerated. They can go into the community in the way we used to handle these cases under the Department of Justice.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interviews of presidential hopefuls
May 19, 2019
Cory Booker:
Intervene in refugees' home countries; reform asylum process
We should be making sure that those countries that are going through crises that are causing all this immigration that we're doing more to intervene, to support human rights and basic dignity in those countries. That's a lower cost way to deal with
it than to have the horrors of these families with small children trying to make thousands of miles journey to come through our borders. At our border, we need to make sure that we have an asylum system that actually works.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interviews of presidential hopefuls
Apr 21, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Illegal immigration not a national emergency
We do not have a national security emergency. Donald Trump has a political emergency. He was unable to get Mexico to pay for his wall. He does not have the support of either party and the entire U.S. Congress on a bipartisan basis have told him his
wall is a colossal mistake. He ought to be responding to real emergencies like the forest fires. Climate change is burning down our forests. That's an emergency where we ought to have the help of the federal government. We don't have it.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interviews: 2020 Democratic primary
Feb 24, 2019
Kirsten Gillibrand:
Pathway to citizenship for DREAMers
Q: Is Trump's offer of three years of protection for DACA recipients enough?A: If you talk to any DACA recipient today, they're anxious. They're worried. They might be at school--they don't know if they can finish school. They might be getting
married. Their lives are being upended and this President has no compassion. I don't think you should even consider this because it's three years. Why not a permanent pathway to citizenship so they actually could have certainty about their lives.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interviews: 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 20, 2019
Julian Castro:
Compassion for refugees, pathway for those here
This policy of separating children from their parents and the terrible way that Customs and Border Protection has managed its responsibilities, including the deaths of two children within the last few weeks.
That's a real tragedy.
I don't believe that we should have family detention for people that are seeking asylum or refugee status, so that we should develop other ways to ensure that people are processed, that we're able to keep track of them in the country.
I would make sure that we push as hard as possible for comprehensive immigration reform so that for the people who are already here, if they've been law abiding, if they pay a fine, that they can get an earned path to citizenship.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interviews: 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 13, 2019
Page last updated: Feb 29, 2020