Vox Media: on Immigration
Bernie Sanders:
Open borders for guest workers pushes down U.S. worker wages
Q: You said being a democratic socialist means a more international view. Does that include raising the level of immigration to a level of open borders?A: Open borders? No, that's a Koch brothers proposal.
Q: Really?
A: Of course. That's a right-
wing proposal, which says essentially there is no United States.
Q: But it would make a lot of global poor richer, wouldn't it?
A: It would make everybody in America poorer --you're doing away with the concept of a nation state, and I don't think
there's any country in the world that believes in that. If you believe in a country called the United States or any other country, you have an obligation to do everything we can to help poor people. What right-wing people in this country would love is
an open-border policy. Bring in all kinds of people, work for $2 or $3 an hour, that would be great for them. I don't believe in that. I think we have to raise wages in this country, I think we have to do everything we can to create millions of jobs.
Source: Vox.com 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Jul 28, 2015
Donald Trump:
Cut off aid $700M to Central American Northern Triangle
After months of threats, President Donald Trump has officially taken steps to cut off aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador--the three countries in the "Northern Triangle" of Central America that are the origin point for the current
unprecedented wave of family migration to the United States. The State Department acknowledged in a statement that it had notified Congress it was cutting off aid from past years (fiscal years 2017 and 2018) to the three countries.
An estimated $700 million in aid will be affected by the cutoff.It's still not clear exactly how the aid cutoff is going to work. According to the Washington Post, embassy officials didn't know whether the cutoff applied only to money
that hadn't yet been designated for particular contracts with nongovernmental organizations or whether they were actually supposed to cancel existing contracts that had already been signed and implemented.
Source: Dara Lind, Vox.com, on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 1, 2019
Pope Francis:
Opposes border wall between US and Mexico
Trump and Pope Francis have made no effort to hide their shared enmity over the past few years. During the presidential campaign, the Pope--who is revered for his deep humility and sincere affinity for the poor and downtrodden--was cutting about Trump's
plan to build a border wall with Mexico. "A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel," Francis said in February 2016.Trump fired back via Facebook: "If and
when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS's ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened.
ISIS would have been eradicated unlike what is happening now with our all talk, no action politicians."
Trump added, huffily, "No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man's religion or faith."
Source: Vox.com on 2020 Foreign Influences, "Trump-Pope Meeting"
May 24, 2017
Pope Francis:
Vocal advocate for the plight of refugees
The pope is a passionate and vocal advocate for the plight of refugees, and he believes that man-made climate change is a critical problem that must be addressed by world leaders. Trump, on the other hand, has tried to temporarily
ban all refugees from the United States, called climate change a hoax created by the Chinese, and wants to back out of the Paris climate accords.
Source: Vox.com on 2020 Presidential Hopefuls, "Trump-Pope Meeting"
May 24, 2017
Veronica Escobar:
In America, diversity makes us stronger
Escobar outlined the Democrats' stance on bread-and-butter election issues, including universal affordable health care and raising the federal minimum wage. Escobar made specific appeals to her Latino audience, including how the president's rhetoric
has targeted Latinos and immigrants more broadly. "In America, our diversity makes us stronger--it is what uplifts all voices and makes us an inclusive, dynamic country," she said in Spanish. "Yet, the president clearly does not share this belief."
Source: Vox.com on Democratic rebuttal to 2020 State of the Union
Feb 4, 2020
Page last updated: Dec 02, 2023