June Democratic candidates debate in Miami FL: on Immigration

Eric Swalwell: Families always belong together; don't cage children

Swalwell: No. That person can contribute. This president, for immigrants, there's nothing he will not do to separate a family, cage a child, or erase their existence by weaponizing the census. There is nothing I will not do as president to reverse that and to make sure that families always belong together.

Joe Biden: Reunite families; end outrageous treatment

[8 out of 10 participants raised their hands].

BIDEN: The first thing I would do is unite families. I'd surge immediately billions of dollars' worth of help to the region immediately. Second thing, the law now requires the reuniting of those families. We would reunite those families, period. And lastly, saying children in cages do not need a bed, do not need a blanket, do not need a toothbrush, that is outrageous.

Q: If an individual is living in the US without documents, and that is his only offense, should that person be deported?

BIDEN: If they committed a major crime, they should be deported. But we should not be locking people up. We should be making sure we change the circumstance, why they would leave in the first place. Those who come seeking asylum, we should immediately have the capacity to absorb them, keep them safe until they can be heard.

John Hickenlooper: Federal agents taking children from parents is kidnapping

HICKENLOOPER: If you'd ever told me any time in my life that this country would sanction federal agents to take children from the arms of their parents, put them in cages, actually put them up for adoption--in Colorado, we call that kidnapping--I would have told you it was unbelievable. And the first thing we have to do is recognize the humanitarian crisis on the border for what it is. We make sure that there are the sufficient facilities in place so that women and children are not separated from their families, that children are with their families. We have to make sure that ICE is completely reformed and they begin looking at their job in a humanitarian way, where they're addressing the whole needs of the people that they are engaged with, and we have to make sure ultimately that we provide not just shelter, but food, clothing, and access to medical care.

Kamala Harris: I disagreed with Obama on Secure Communities deportations

Rep. Eric SWALWELL: No. That person can contribute.

V.P. Joe BIDEN: If they committed a major crime, they should be deported. But we should not be locking people up. We should be making sure we change the circumstance, why they would leave in the first place. Those who come seeking asylum, we should immediately have the capacity to absorb them, keep them safe until they can be heard.

Sen. Kamala HARRIS: No, they should not be deported. This was one of the very few issues with which I disagreed with the [Obama] administration. On the secure communities issue, I disagreed with my president, because the policy was to allow deportation of people who by ICE's own definition were non-criminals. I issued a directive to the sheriffs of my state that they did not have to comply with detainers, and instead should make decisions based on the best interests of public safety of their community.

Kamala Harris: Immediately reinstate DACA protection, including parents

Kirsten Gillibrand: Give asylum-seekers lawyers and community support

Marianne Williamson: Federal agents putting children in cages is child abuse

Marianne WILLIAMSON: It's not just in Colorado--Governor, you're right, it is kidnapping, and it's extremely important for us to realize that. If you forcibly take a child from their parents' arms, you are kidnapping them. And if you take a lot of children and you put them in a detainment center, that's inflicting chronic trauma upon them. That's called child abuse. This is collective child abuse. And both of those things are a crime. And if your government does it, that doesn't make it less of a crime. These are state-sponsored crimes.

Michael Bennet: Family separation more like Holocaust than Statue of Liberty

Pete Buttigieg: Decriminalizing border-crossing ends child separation

[8 out of 10 debate participants would decriminalize unauthorized border crossings. Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, John Hickenlooper, and Eric Swalwell raised their hands, indicating their first public support of the proposal. Julian Castro called out Beto O'Rourke (D-TX), who has argued the law should remain on the books. The only candidate to flatly reject the idea was Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO). Joe Biden took a mixed position.

Buttigieg: That criminalization is the basis for family separation. You do away with that, it's no longer possible. The Republican Party likes to cloak itself in the language of religion. For a party that associates itself with Christianity, to say that God would smile on the division of families at the hands of federal agents, that God would condone putting children in cages, has lost all claim to ever use religious language again.

Amy Klobuchar: 25% of our Nobel laureates were born in other countries

KLOBUCHAR: Immigrants, they do not diminish America. They are America. But I do think you want to make sure that you have provisions in place that allow you to go after traffickers and allow you to go after people who are violating the law. What I really think we need to step back and talk about is the economic imperative here. And that is that 70 of our Fortune 500 companies are headed by people that came from other countries. Twenty-five percent of our U.S. Nobel laureates were born in other countries. We have a situation right now where we need workers in our fields and in our factories. We need them to start small businesses. We need their ideas. And this president has literally gone backwards at a time when our economy needs immigrants.

Beto O`Rourke: Asylum-seekers are fleeing deadliest countries in the world

O'ROURKE: We would not build walls. We would not put kids in cages. In fact, we would spare no expense to reunite the families that have been separated already. And we would not criminally prosecute any family who is fleeing violence and persecution. We would not detain any family fleeing violence, in fact, fleeing the deadliest countries on the face of the planet today. We would implement a family case management program so they could be cared for in the community at a fraction of the cost. And then we would rewrite our immigration laws in our own image, free Dreamers forever from any fear of deportation by making them U.S. citizens here in this country, invest in solutions in Central America, work with regional stakeholders so there's no reason to make that 2,000 mile journey to this country.

Bill de Blasio: Immigration policy & crisis does not reflect our values

Cory Booker: Make major investments in the Northern Triangle

Sen. Cory BOOKER: [SPEAKING IN SPANISH]: The situation right now is unacceptable. This president has attacked, has demonized immigrants. [SWITCHING TO ENGLISH]: I will make sure that, number one, we end the ICE policies and the Customs and Border Policies that are violating the human rights. When people come to this country, they do not leave their human rights at the border. Number two, I will make sure that we reinstate DACA, that we reinstate pathways to citizenship for DACA recipients. And then, finally, we need to make major investments in the Northern Triangle, not like this president is doing, by ripping away the resources we need to actually solve this problem. We cannot surrender our values and think that we're going to get border security. We actually will lose security and our values. We must fight for both.

Cory Booker: Get rid of section 1325 & deal with ICE abuses at home

Cory BOOKER: I agree on that issue, but folks should understand that the separation of children from families doesn't just go on at our border. It happens in our communities, as ICE are ripping away parents from their American children, spouses and the like, and are creating fear in cities all across this country. We must end those policies, as well. I have been to some of the largest private prisons and their immigration lockups. Our country has made so many mistakes by criminalizing things, whether it's immigration, whether it's mental illness, whether it's addiction. We know that this is not the way to deal with problems. There is a humane way that affirms human rights and human dignity and actually solves this problem.

Jay Inslee: First governor to oppose Trump's heinous Muslim ban

INSLEE: There is no reason for the detention and separation of these children. They should be released, pending their hearings, and they should have a hearing and the law should be followed. That's what should happen. And we should do what we're doing in Washington state. I'm proud that we've passed a law that prevents local law enforcement from being turned into mini-ICE agents. I'm proud to have been the first governor to stand up against Donald Trump's heinous Muslim ban. I'm proud to be a person who's not only talked about DREAMers, but being one of the first to make sure that they get a college education, so that they can realize their dreams. These are some of the most inspirational people in our state. We welcome refugees into our state. We recognize diversity as a strength. This is how we've built America.

Julian Castro: Get rid of metering asylum applicants at the border

A: Watching that image of Oscar and his daughter, Valeria, is heartbreaking. It should also piss us all off. If I were president today, I would sign an executive order that would get rid of Trump's zero-tolerance policy, the remain in Mexico policy, and this metering policy is basically what prompted Oscar and Valeria to make that risky swim across the river. They had been playing games with people who are coming and trying to seek asylum at our ports of entry. On day one, I would do that executive order that would address metering. And then I would follow that up in my first 100 days with immigration reform that would honor asylum claims, that would put undocumented immigrants, as long as they haven't committed a serious crime, on a pathway to citizenship.

Julian Castro: Get rid of section 1325: stop criminalizing desperation

Tim Ryan: Terrorists treated better than children at the border

There are other provisions in the law that will allow you to prosecute people for coming over here if they're dealing drugs and other things. There's no need to repeat it. It's abhorrent the way these kids are being treated. If you go to Guantanamo Bay, there are terrorists that are held that get better health care than those kids that have tried to cross the border in the United States. The president should immediately ask doctors and nurses to go immediately down to the border and start taking care of these kids. The end result is now we've got kids literally laying in their own snot, with three-week-old diapers that haven't been changed. We've got to tell this president that is not a sign of strength. That is a sign of weakness.