2019 State of the Union address: on Immigration

Donald Trump: FactCheck: border mayors claim towns are secure & safe

In its fact check of Trump's State of the Union speech, NPR relayed these assessments: "As for the 'state of our Southern border,' mayors along the Southwest border consistently say that their communities are among the safest in the nation. McAllen TX Mayor Jim Darling asserted that his city is the 3rd safest in Texas, according to FBI crime statistics, and 7th safest in the nation. 'Send social workers to process the asylum-seekers, not soldiers,' Darling said. Eddie Trevino, Cameron County judge in Brownsville, added, 'It is a misconception that the border is insecure. There is no Central American invasion. This is a manufactured crisis.' "

Jay Inslee: Choose greatness instead of stoking fear among immigrants

Kirsten Gillibrand: Reunite families ripped apart at the border

"President Trump has had years to bring this country together, but instead he has chosen to divide the country across every single line he can imagine. If President Trump wants to convince the country that he actually cares about bringing us together, then he can start by no longer using government workers as political pawns, reuniting the families that his Administration ripped apart at the border, and stopping with political wedge issues like telling women they can't make their own health decisions in consultation with their doctor."

Mike Bloomberg: America's greatness begins with immigrants, not with a wall

"Choosing greatness starts with understanding that," he tweeted. "And it means choosing real solutions to our broken immigration system over gimmicks like a wall."

Bernie Sanders: Undocumented immigrants commit fewer crimes than citizens

His demonization of Latinos is racist, it's wrong, and it also happens to be factually inaccurate. Undocumented Latino immigrants commit fewer crimes in America than the general public.

Isn't it strange, however, that when we talk about terrible crimes committed in Nevada, Trump forgot to mention that, in 2017, a white man named Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and wounded 851--the deadliest shooting in modern American history.

If he is concerned about crime how come Trump didn't mention that? Needless to say, he also didn't mention the need for common-sense gun safety legislation which would lower the terrible rate of mass shootings in our country.

Bernie Sanders: Comprehensive reform instead of an emergency wall

No, Mr. Trump, building a wall is not an emergency.

In terms of immigration in this country, what we need to do is not to waste billions of dollars on a wall, but to finally address the need for comprehensive immigration reform--including a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented people.

It is inhumane, and not what America stands for, that tiny children at the border have been torn away from their parents. It is disgraceful that 1.8 million young people have lost their legal protection under the DACA program because of Trump's actions. It is heartbreaking that almost 11 million undocumented people living in this country worry every day about being deported & separated from their loved ones.

Donald Trump: Coyotes out of business on very dangerous southern border

This is a moral issue. The lawless state of our southern border is a threat to the safety, security, and financial well-being of all Americans. We have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens. This includes our obligation to the millions of immigrants living here today, who followed the rules and respected our laws. Legal immigrants enrich our Nation and strengthen our society in countless ways. I want people to come into our country, but they have to come in legally.

Tonight, I am asking you to defend our very dangerous southern border out of love and devotion to our fellow citizens and to our country.

Donald Trump: Powerful wall in San Diego stopped nearly all crossings

This is a smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier--not just a simple concrete wall. It will be deployed in the areas identified by border agents as having the greatest need, and as these agents will tell you, where walls go up, illegal crossings go way down.

San Diego used to have the most illegal border crossings in the country. In response, and at the request of San Diego residents and political leaders, a strong security wall was put in place. This powerful barrier almost completely ended illegal crossings.

Donald Trump: 3,750 troops to prepare for onslaught of Mexican caravans

Donald Trump: ICE guards dangerous southern border against criminal aliens

Jeff Merkley: State of the Union: protest child separation at border

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said he will "highlight the human suffering" caused by the president's immigration policy by bringing Albertina Contreras Teletor and Yakelin Garcia Contreras, a mother and daughter who were separated at the Southern border last year.

Yakelin, who turns 12 on Tuesday, was separated from her mother for nearly two months before they were reunited. "This child separation policy came from a dark and evil place within the heart of this administration," Merkley said in a statement.

Kamala Harris: Welcome refugees and immigrants, instead of a border wall

We need our leaders to speak the biggest truth of all: In the face of powerful forces that have been trying to sow hate and division among us, the truth is that as Americans we have much more in common than what separates us.

Let's fight for an America where we welcome refugees and immigrants, and where we fight for the dignity of all people-- no matter who they are, no matter what they look like or how they identify.

I want you all to listen closely [to Trump's State of the Union]. When you hear claims that our problems would all be solved if we just built a wall on our southern border, don't forget the babies ripped from their mothers' arms and the refugees fleeing violence who are being turned away.

The strength of our union has never been found in the walls we build. It's in our diversity and our unity--and that is our power.

Marsha Blackburn: State of the Union: protest undocumented immigrants licenses

Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Rep. Tim Burchett are bringing Knoxville Fire Department Capt. D.J. Corcoran and Wendy Corcoran. They are the parents of Pierce Corcoran, 22, who died in a car accident in 2018. Corcoran was in a car crash with a driver who is an undocumented immigrant, who has been charged with negligent homicide and driving without a license or insurance. The accident has fueled the ongoing national debate over illegal immigration.

"The tragedy the Corcoran family has endured is one no family should ever have to experience," Blackburn said, "The attendance of Pierce's parents at the State of the Union serves as a reminder that we, as a Congress, have a duty to keep the American people safe."

Stacey Abrams: 21st-century Immigration plan, not walls nor open borders

Tim Burchett: State of the Union: protest undocumented immigrants licenses

Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Rep. Tim Burchett are bringing Knoxville Fire Department Capt. D.J. Corcoran and Wendy Corcoran. They are the parents of Pierce Corcoran, 22, who died in a car accident in 2018. Corcoran was in a car crash with a driver who is an undocumented immigrant, who has been charged with negligent homicide and driving without a license or insurance. The accident has fueled the ongoing national debate over illegal immigration.

"The tragedy the Corcoran family has endured is one no family should ever have to experience," Blackburn said, "The attendance of Pierce's parents at the State of the Union serves as a reminder that we, as a Congress, have a duty to keep the American people safe."

Xavier Becerra: Parents put faith in US system when immigrating from Mexico

My parents began their life together in the United States for the same reason that many people come to this country: to work hard and give their children a better life. Upon leaving Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, they brought with them their faith and not much else. They trusted in the promise of this country that all those who work hard and play by the rules, have earned the opportunity to get ahead.

I know I am the product of those who fought to open the doors of opportunity. The optimism--that characterizes the waves of immigrants who have come here-- runs through my blood. And if the state of our nation can be characterized as "strong," it is because people like my parents and yours--citizens or immigrants--built this country.

Xavier Becerra: Experts don't want an extravagant wall along the border

How can it be that what defines the state of our country in 2019 is the shutdown of the government at the hands President Trump?

Who would believe that the state of our union would be propelled by President Trump's extravagant obsession to build a wall on the border that not even the experts want? The President no longer even repeats his promise that Mexico will pay for the thousands of millions of dollars that the wall would cost.

And if all that were not enough to worry us, how can it be explained that our nation lives under an intense investigation about Russian interference in our 2016 presidential elections?

Tonight was about convincing us that, from here on out, the deceit and dysfunction would stop and that cooperation would begin. What we heard was the same tired refrain of building walls.

Kirsten Gillibrand: Pathway to citizenship gets immigrants connected