Meet the Press interviews during 2019: on Immigration
Julian Castro:
Independent immigration courts will speed up asylum process
What we're talking about is doing things like that 21st Century Marshall Plan so that we can actually stem the flow of people here because they can find safety and opportunity at home. We're talking about creating an independent immigration
court system with more judges and more support staff so that we can actually get these asylum claims resolved and people are not waiting in the United States in limbo for years and years.
Source: NBC News Meet the Press 2019 interview
Jun 30, 2019
Donald Trump:
Democrats refuse to change asylum laws & loopholes
If the Democrats would change the asylum laws and the loopholes, which they refuse to do because they think it's good politics, everything would be solved immediately. But they refuse to do it. They refuse to do it.
If they change those, I say, I used to say 45 minutes. It's 15 minutes. If they changed asylum and if they changed loopholes everything on the border would be perfect.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview series
Jun 23, 2019
Donald Trump:
Didn't start family separation but ended it
On family separation at the border: This has been happening long before I got there. What we've done is ended separation. Under President Obama you had separation. I was the one that ended it. We're doing a fantastic job under the circumstances.
The Democrats are holding up the humanitarian aid. If the Democrats would change the asylum laws and the loopholes, which they refuse to do because they think it's good politics, everything would be solved immediately. But they refuse to do it.
Source: NBC News Meet the Press 2019 interview
Jun 23, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Immediately undo Trump actions; work with Congress
Muslim ban, when has a country ever banned all people of one religion, as though they're somehow defective or violent? Or putting kids in cages or deporting their moms or keeping them separated, those things, we must overturn on day one.
But we're going to have to work with Congress to rewrite this country's immigration laws. The 9 million legal, permanent residents: let's make sure that they become citizens as soon as possible, waive their fees, mail them already-filled-out application.
Eleven million undocumented, start with the more than 1 million Dreamers. Free them forever from any fear of deportation by making them citizens in this, their true home country. Follow our asylum laws.
And then invest in solutions in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador. Reduce violence there, so that no family has to make that 2,000-mile journey to our border.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jun 2, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Expedite citizenship process for legal residents & DREAMers
We're going to have to work with Congress to rewrite this country's immigration laws in our own image. The 9 million legal, permanent residents, let's make sure that they become U.S. citizens as soon as possible, waive their citizenship fees,
mail them already-filled-out citizenship application forms. 11 million undocumented, start with the more than 1 million Dreamers. Free them forever from any fear of deportation by also making them U.S. citizens in this, their true home country.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview series
Jun 2, 2019
Jay Inslee:
More hearing officers to process asylum cases
We've got to make the asylum process work. We have to have more channels, more hearing officers to simply be able to process these cases. You don't change the law just because you've got more cases in the federal court system or get rid of judges.
We need more processing facilities to help these folks. And yes, while they're waiting for their asylum hearings, we're welcoming them to the state of Washington because we have found these folks frequently become pillars of our community.
We should give the 11 million plus that are our neighbors, that are working, some of the hardest working people in the country, we need to give them a path to citizenship. We need to protect our "Dreamers." These people are in our universities.
They're going to be engineers. They're going to be businesspeople. We've got to have an American style of acceptance of refugees because we're a humane nation. We've got to have a humane policy.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 14, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Against Muslim ban; not afraid of diversity
We are not afraid of diversity in the state of Washington. We relish it. It is the basis of our economic and cultural success. We're built as a state of immigrants. We've welcomed refugees, as we did the Vietnamese refugees, with a Republican governor
back in the day. I was the first governor to say that our state was willing to take Syrian refugees. That's why I was the first governor to come out against the Muslim ban. That's why we've sued Donald Trump and won 18 times in a row.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 14, 2019
Mitt Romney:
Secure the borders; deport people here illegally
We're seeing unaccompanied young people, as well as families with lots of kids, pouring into the border. And they say the magic word, "I'm seeking asylum." We don't begin to have enough space in our facilities to maintain the kind of care that these
people deserve. It's overwhelming our system. We can't have millions upon millions of people flooding into our country without a border that's secure, without ICE making sure the people that are here illegally are sent back.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2019
Mitt Romney:
Reluctantly supports DACA, but need to crack down
[DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was] put in place by Pres. Obama and I believe we have a responsibility to fulfill what is a presidential pledge and commitment. I would provide legal status for those Dreamers in the country. But overall,
we need to complete the border fence. We need to have a system that keeps people from getting jobs here if they're here illegally, and that's an e-verify system. And then we've got to deal with this asylum issue that's really overwhelming our system.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Problem isn't ICE; it's what they're ordered to do
We have worked very hard to be a welcoming city. People who are really important parts of our community are being torn apart from their families. This is not making us safer. When it comes to ICE, I don't care what the agency is called. I care what it
does. As long as you have an agency being ordered to tear families apart from one another or being ordered to make it harder to get on a path to citizenship, you're going to continue to have heartbreaking stories that are not helping anybody.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2019
John Hickenlooper:
Need a comprehensive reevaluation of our immigration laws
We are a country built on immigration. We have more job openings than we have people looking for work. We've got to reevaluate our entire immigration system. We need more workers to help bring in our crops, where last fall we were leaving some of our
fruits and vegetables in the fields and unharvested. Whether we need more electrical engineers to keep our tech industry at the front of the global competition. That's all got to be incorporated into a comprehensive treatment of immigration.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interviews for 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 31, 2019
Page last updated: Jan 12, 2020