Interviews during 2018-2020: on Immigration
Joe Sestak:
Establish path to citizenship, end family separation
Sestak tweeted that he supports allowing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and new border security measures. He would end the Trump administration's family separation practices, which his campaign
website calls "shameful." And he has called on U.S. officials to do more to ensure that Central American governments are using U.S. foreign aid effectively.
Source: PBS News Hour on 2020 Democratic primary
Jul 16, 2019
Tom Steyer:
Fight deportation and expand services for immigrants
As the migrant crisis at the southern border ramped up last year, Steyer donated $1 million to legal aid groups working to assist immigrants facing deportation. He said it was vital that legal services for immigrants seeking assistance "be expanded and
strengthened" until the U.S. was able to address the issue in "a comprehensive and humane way." On its website, NextGen America states that a system that profits off of immigrants' labor without offering them a path to citizenship is "inherently unjust."
Source: PBS News Hour 2019 coverage of 2020 Democratic primary
Jul 10, 2019
Joe Sestak:
Secure borders & due process for asylum seekers
Sestak wants to "Secure our borders with smart technology such as drones and sensors, and sections of fencing where needed and appropriate; increase guest worker visas; create a path to naturalization for undocumented immigrants willing to
pay back taxes, pass criminal background checks, prove gainful employment, and pass a basic English language test; end practice of separating children from their parents or guardians;
grant all immigrants and asylum-seekers the right to an attorney; assure timely due process for all immigrants and asylum-seekers;
explore innovative solutions to address the root causes of migration, including climate change, violence, and poverty."
Source: Townhall.com on 2020 Democratic primary
Jul 9, 2019
Joe Sestak:
Expand involvement of the Office of Refugee Resettlement
We need to expand the involvement of the Office of Refugee Resettlement to better match migrants with host families in the United States, as many U.S. families are willing to open their homes to such people in need. We are a caring country. Finally, we
need immigration reform. I will engage on this immediately, similar to what I supported in past bi-partisan efforts by Senators McCain and Kennedy, to get our undocumented residents on a path to citizenship with border security measures, as appropriate.
Source: Twitter posting on 2020 Democratic primary
Jul 6, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Military service as pathway to citizenship for immigrants
He is proposing allowing
military service to be a pathway to citizenship for immigrants, according to the plan.
Source: CNN coverage of 2020 Democratic primary
Jun 24, 2019
Bill de Blasio:
Created city ID so undocumented immigrants get healthcare
On immigration: Backs protections for undocumented immigrants. De Blasio believes everyone should be guaranteed the right to health care, including undocumented immigrants.
As mayor, de Blasio pushed to make
New York City a so-called "sanctuary city" that limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities. It's a practice the Trump administration has vigorously opposed.
He also announced a health care plan and created a city ID for undocumented immigrants. Under de Blasio, the city also sued the
Trump administration when it attempted to withhold of federal grants that were tied to cooperation with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Source: PBS News Hour 2019 coverage of 2020 Democratic primary
May 17, 2019
Kirsten Gillibrand:
2000s: opposed amnesty for undocumented immigrants
Key criticisms of Kirsten Gillibrand: Conservative track record: During her time as a member of the conservative Democrats Blue Dog Coalition when she represented New York's 20th district,
Gillibrand had an 'A' rating from the NRA and opposed amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
Source: Axios.com on 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
There's a consensus on immigration if we have the will
I think the reason that the Dreamer story is so powerful is that it reflects the experiences of people who are Americans. They're not U.S. citizens, but in many cases this is the only country they can even remember. There are over 10 million people
who are undocumented immigrants in this country who don't fall into that category. And the reality is, we can't have comprehensive immigration reform that works unless it addresses the status for those 11-some million undocumented immigrants.
What we need to do is make sure there's a pathway to citizenship for them, too. We know the outlines of a comprehensive immigration reform -- a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people in this country; a level of protection for
DREAMers; a set of reforms to clear up the bureaucracy and the backlogs in the lawful immigration system, which is how my father became a U.S. citizen; and reasonable measures on border security.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
Marianne Williamson:
Need to examine how US policy created border crisis
[Regarding the Mexican border]: The real crisis is not just that so many people are coming over the border. The real crisis is the human despair and desperation that has led them to take their children on their backs over hundreds
and even thousands of miles of desert. Nobody does this because things are going well.
We need to look deeply at American foreign policy in Latin America and how we have contributed to situations where there was level of despair because too often in our foreign policy,
just like in our domestic, our government has done more to be supporting short-term profits for major corporate interests than people.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 14, 2019
Eric Swalwell:
Visit Northern Triangle to gain compassion for those fleeing
Swalwell has been critical of the president's immigration policies, recently tweeting that he'd like Trump to show more "compassion" by visiting the Central American countries many migrants are fleeing from to witness the violent conditions there.
The congressman supported the bipartisan immigration reform bill that passed the Senate in 2013 (the bill died in the House), as well as legislation to protect so-called "DREAMers," immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as minors.
Source: PBS News Hour on 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 10, 2019
Amy Klobuchar:
Immigrants crucial to labor & management
"The economics of it is that we need workers in our factories all over the country, we need workers on our farms, and we need workers with creative ideas," Klobuchar said. "At least 70 of our Fortune 500 companies are headed up by immigrants.
So immigration has been a major driving economic force. And you can't have economics with heart, and neglect 12 million people, and just pretend they're not working in our economy."
Source: The Atlantic, "Heartland Economics": 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 4, 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
Beto O`Rourke:
Condemns President Trump's wall; "Walls end lives"
O'Rourke condemned Mr. Trump's long-promised wall along the southwestern border. "We know that walls do not save lives. Walls end lives," he said in a border rally that competed with one of Mr. Trump's nearby rallies. "In the last 10 years, more than
4,000 children women and men have died trying to come to this country to work jobs that no one will take, to be with a family member, to flee horrific violence, brutality and death."
Source: CBS News, "Who is Beto," on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 21, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Raise cap on work visas; find pathway to citizenship
O'Rourke wants to raise the cap on work visas, find a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and create a system with the Mexican government that would track who was in the country. "In my opinion, that includes citizenship for
DREAMers, a legal path to citizenship for their parents, and the ability to get right with the law, and work legally, and pay taxes, and pursue a path to citizenship for millions of others who've been working the toughest jobs here."
Source: Joe Hagan in Vanity Fair on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 13, 2019
Marianne Williamson:
Pathway and affordable healthcare for illegal immigrants
She believes that there should be a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants with no "serious criminal background."
She has also said that she would work on providing affordable healthcare to illegal families.
Source: Townhall.com: 2020 Democratic primary "Candidate profiles"
Mar 5, 2019
Kamala Harris:
2008: Supported SF policy reported arrested juveniles to ICE
Sen. Kamala Harris mischaracterized a 2008 policy she supported for a citywide policy enacted by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom of reporting juvenile undocumented immigrants arrested by local police to ICE. The decision revoked a previous policy of
non-reporting. Harris called the reporting of arrested juvenile undocumented immigrants before they were convicted of a felony an "unintended consequence" of the policy that she did not support. However, this was in fact the intent of the policy.
A Harris spokesman did not address the senator's mischaracterizations when contacted by CNN's KFile. "As Governor Newsom has said, the initial policy was intended to protect the sanctuary status of San Francisco, which
Senator Harris has always supported and defended," Harris spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement. "We have said this policy should have been done differently."
Source: CNN KFile, "Juveniles," on 2020 Democratic primary
Feb 27, 2019
Kamala Harris:
Reform system, against "vanity project" of border wall
Harris spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement, "As Senator, Harris is focused on protecting Dreamers, fighting this president's attempts to build a vanity project on the southern border, exercising more oversight of
ICE, reforming our immigration system with a path to citizenship. and reuniting families separated by this administration. Those will be her priorities should she be elected president."
Source: CNN KFile, "Juveniles," on 2020 Democratic primary
Feb 27, 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
Pete Buttigieg:
Supports DACA and easing deportation policies
Buttigieg supports the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, and would like to see Congress pass a law creating pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants
brought to the country illegally as children. He also opposes the Trump administration's aggressive deportation policies,.
Source: PBS Newshour on 2020 Democratic primary
Feb 15, 2019
Andrew Yang:
Supports the DREAM Act
Yang has conceded that the Southern border needs more security but has offered no specific alternatives to the president's border wall.
Supports the DREAM Act.
Source: Townhall.com: 2020 Democratic primary "Candidate profiles"
Feb 6, 2019
Kirsten Gillibrand:
In House, took hardline for border security, ICE funding
Running for the House in 2006, Gillibrand called securing the border "a national security priority." In a 2007 interview, Gillibrand said "you have to close the borders" as a first step to "right size" immigration. In an interview in May 2007,
Gillibrand said the borders needed to be closed. She co-sponsored a bill expressing displeasure at states giving driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants and then co-sponsored a bill to prevent it. She voted in favor of an amendment
to increase border fencing and technology by almost $90 million. She also voted in favor of an amendment to increase ICE funding by $9 million to work with local law enforcement to identify and remove undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes.
A page put up on her website for her 2008 re-election campaign boasted about her record, adding that the congresswoman believed that English should be the official language of the United States.
Source: CNN KFile, "Abolish ICE," on 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 31, 2019
Kirsten Gillibrand:
Hadn't understood issues, changed views in Senate
In January 2009, Gillibrand was appointed to replace Clinton, who had been confirmed to be President Barack Obama's new secretary of state. Her appointment was met with backlash from New York-based immigration activists.
Gillibrand sought to quell the concerns by meeting with immigration groups. Gillibrand moved in the Senate to support policies advocated by activists, including in March 2009, when she signed on as a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act.
Gillibrand was asked about her past positions in a 2018 interview with 60 Minutes, where she said, "I just didn't take the time to understand why these issues mattered because it wasn't right in front of me.
And that was my fault. It was something that I'm embarrassed about and I'm ashamed of."
Source: CNN KFile, "Abolish ICE," on 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 31, 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
Kirsten Gillibrand:
Pathway to citizenship gets immigrants connected
It's really important that we give immigrants a pathway to citizenship through comprehensive immigration reform, so they can be part of all the blessings of America. When you create a pathway to citizenship you allow people to buy into their Social
Security. You allow them to invest in our public schools. You allow them to invest in their future and pay taxes. All those things is why you need a pathway to citizenship. And so I really hope we can do that through comprehensive immigration reform.
Source: CNN 2019 "State of the Union" on 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
Joe Biden:
Focus on refugee asylum seekers at home in Northern Triangle
When President Trump signed an executive order ending the separation of children from their families at the border, it did not end the crisis in Central America. Nor should it relieve our moral anguish at seeing the poorest and most vulnerable treated
in ways that are fundamentally at odds with our nation's values.The moment also calls for a renewed focus on the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America--the countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, which together represent the
overwhelming source of migrants crossing our southern border. Unless we address the root causes driving migration from this region, any solutions focused solely on border protection and enforcement will be insufficient.
In 2014, [Pres. Obama and
I saw that] migration from Central America could not be resolved merely by stronger enforcement at the US border, let alone by building a wall. Instead, we needed to tackle the drivers of migration: crime, violence, corruption and lack of opportunity.
Source: Joe Biden OpEd in Washington Post (2020 Democratic primary)
Jun 25, 2018
Michael Bennet:
Trump is anti-immigrant; immigrants are a positive force
Q: Are Trump's immigration policies driven by racism?A: I think they're driven by a profound anti-immigrant sentiment and a complete misapprehension of the contribution that immigrants and immigration has made to the United States of America.
They see it as a negative force, immigration and immigrants as a negative force. I think the history is that it has been a positive force.
Source: The Atlantic, "Immigration," on 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 24, 2018
Michael Bennet:
America is a unique place for refugees to succeed
There is not an immigrant in Colorado that has a thicker accent than my grandparents had. And there was nobody I ever met who were greater patriots than my grandparents. They loved this country. And they were astonished by our political system, by our
commitment to pluralism, by their ability to rebuild their shattered lives in the United States, and they truly believe they could never have done it anywhere else. I think a lot about them when we're having these immigration conversations.
Source: The Atlantic, "Immigration," on 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 24, 2018
Page last updated: Dec 01, 2021