Tim Kaine on Immigration Democratic Senate Challenger; previously Governor

Comprehensive immigration reform to protect DREAMers

Tim Kaine (D): Yes. Supported comprehensive immigration reform to protect Dreamers, enhance border security & create earned path to citizenship for "those living in the shadows."

Corey Stewart (R): No. "Illegal immigration threatens America's security, jobs, & tax dollars." No amnesty. Build the wall. Instructed his county police to check immigration status of anyone they believed were in the country illegally.

DREAMers & DACA saved by executive order, not Congress

(BEGIN VIDEO) TRUMP: I say this to DACA recipients--that the Republicans are with you. They want to get your situation taken care of. The Democrats fought us. They did not want DACA in this bill.

(END VIDEO) Q: Do Democrats risk losing the support of Americans who overwhelmingly want this fixed?

KAINE: That quote of the president, he is either lying or he is completely delusional. Why is there DACA? Because a Democratic president, President Obama, supported by Democratic legislators, put it in place in 2012. Why is DACA threatened? Because a Republican president, Donald Trump, supported by Republican legislators, announced that the program was going to be ended. One person can save DACA. If President Trump believes in DACA, all he has to do is retract his executive order from September, where he broke a promise to DREAMers and said he was going to end the program.

Trump's immigration ban is a religious test

KAINE: [Trump's immigration ban from seven Muslim countries] affects green card holders. It affects people on special immigrant visas like interpreters who've helped the U.S. military in foreign countries. Who would help the US if they knew we would abandon them when they're trying to come here? It's a religious test. It imposes a different burden on Muslims than others.

Q: You tweeted yesterday, "If we turn our backs on widows and orphans fleeing the very evil we despise, we do not defeat our enemies; we surrender to them." What can you do?

KAINE: The Trump administration is posed to do horrible danger to our country, our values, our people and our reputation. And we're going to do everything we can in Congress, in the courts, in state houses, in ballot boxes, online and in peaceful protests to make sure that this administration doesn't hurt the country that we love.

No ban on Muslim immigrants; no ban on Syrian refugees

Tim Kaine's answer: No

Mike Pence's answer: No

Evan McMullin's answer: No

Q: Should the U.S. accept refugees from Syria?

Tim Kaine's answer: Yes

Mike Pence's answer: No

Evan McMullin's answer: Yes

Q: Should foreign terrorism suspects be given constitutional rights?

Tim Kaine's answer: Yes

Mike Pence's answer: No

Evan McMullin's answer: No

Subsidized healthcare and tuition ok for illegal immigrants

Tim Kaine's answer: Yes

Mike Pence's answer: No

Evan McMullin's answer: No

Q: Should illegal immigrants be offered in-state tuition rates at public colleges within their residing state?

Tim Kaine's answer: Yes

Mike Pence's answer: No

Evan McMullin's answer: No

No "deportation force" going door-to-door to deport 16M

PENCE: That's nonsense. We have a deportation force. It's called Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. And their union endorsed Donald Trump.

Barring Syrian refugees is antithetical to democracy

PENCE: That's absolutely false.

KAINE: And with respect to refugees, we want to keep people out if they're dangerous. Donald Trump said keep them out if they're Muslim. Mike Pence put a program in place to keep them out if they're from Syria. We should focus upon danger, not upon discrimination.

PENCE: As governor, I have no higher priority than the safety and security of the people of my state. So you bet I suspended that program. And I stand by that decision.

KAINE: Sure. Hillary and I will do immigration enforcement and we'll vet refugees based on whether they're dangerous or not. We won't do it based on discriminating against you from the country you come from or the religion that you practice. That is completely antithetical to the Jeffersonian values of [democracy].

Barring Syrian refugees is antithetical to democracy

PENCE: That's absolutely false.

KAINE: And with respect to refugees, we want to keep people out if they're dangerous. Donald Trump said keep them out if they're Muslim. Mike Pence put a program in place to keep them out if they're from Syria. We should focus upon danger, not upon discrimination.

PENCE: As governor, I have no higher priority than the safety and security of the people of my state. So you bet I suspended that program. And I stand by that decision.

KAINE: Sure. Hillary and I will do immigration enforcement and we'll vet refugees based on whether they're dangerous or not. We won't do it based on discriminating against you from the country you come from or the religion that you practice. That is completely antithetical to the Jeffersonian values of [democracy].

Urges US to accept more Syrian refugees

Supported 2013 Senate immigration reform package

Give millions of families an earned pathway to citizenship

Allow more Syrian Refugees to resettle in US

[The letter included]: "Our nation's founders came to our shores to escape religious persecution and the United States has a long tradition of providing safe haven to refugees," the senators wrote. "The United States traditionally accepts at least 50 percent of resettlement cases from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). However, we have accepted only approximately 700 refugees since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, an unacceptably low number. While the United States is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees, we must also dramatically increase the number of Syrian refugees that we accept for resettlement."

Make it easier for foreign students to get green cards

Seeks defined path to earned citizenship, plus DREAM Act

Comprehensive immigration policy instead of xenophobia

KAINE: I do I think the Arizona law comes out of a frustration with a broken federal immigration policy, but the way to fix it is for senators and House members of both parties to do what they said they had been doing, they should have done years ago and come up with a comprehensive immigration policy at the federal level. The solution isn't for states to go one-off and enact harsh policies that really, you know, show a real xenophobic face about who we are. We need to fix this, fix it at the federal level, that is what the president is set on doing.

Supercharged rhetoric causes hostility to New Americans

We are a nation of laws. It is our obligation to enforce those laws, and we should continually assess the consequences of illegal immigration. It is equally important to recognize the many positive benefits of legal immigration. We cannot afford to let supercharged political rhetoric unfairly paint a picture of Virginians as a people who are hostile to New Americans.

There will be more proposals on immigration this year, and we should scrutinize them carefully. In doing so, we have to balance the need to enforce our laws with a few important realities. One in ten Virginians was born outside of the US, and most of us can trace our ancestors back to another country in only a few generations. The majority of immigrants today are legal and fully contribute, strengthening the social fabric of our communities.

Terminate national emergency at the Southern border.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives: That the national emergency declared by the finding of the President on February 15, 2019, in Proclamation 9844 is hereby terminated.

Proclamation 9844 issued by the president on Feb. 15, 2019: Declares a state of national emergency at the southern border to address the issues of illegal immigration and criminal trafficking into the US: `The current situation at the southern border presents a border security and humanitarian crisis that threatens core national security interests and constitutes a national emergency. The southern border is a major entry point for criminals, gang members, and illicit narcotics. The problem of large-scale unlawful migration through the southern border is long-standing, and despite the executive branch`s exercise of existing statutory authorities, the situation has worsened in certain respects in recent years. Because of the gravity of the current emergency situation, it is necessary for the Armed Forces to provide additional support to address the crisis.`

Opposing the Proclamation (supporting the Resolution), ACLU press release, 2/15/2019 The ACLU issued the following statement upon filing a lawsuit: `By the president`s very own admission in the Rose Garden, there is no national emergency. He just grew impatient and frustrated with Congress, and decided to move along his promise for a border wall `faster.` This is a patently illegal power grab that hurts American communities and flouts the checks and balances that are hallmarks of our democracy.`

Legislative outcome Passed House 245-182-5 roll #94 on Feb. 26; pass Senate 59-41 roll #49 on March 14; Vetoed by Pres. Trump; veto override failed, 248-181-3 (2/3 required), roll #127 on March 26

Sponsored bill to disallow religion-based immigration ban.

The National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants Act (NO BAN Act) imposes limitations on the President`s authority to suspend or restrict aliens from entering the US. It also prohibits religious discrimination in various immigration-related decisions, such as issuing a visa. The President may temporarily restrict the entry of any class of aliens after determining that the restriction would address specific and credible facts that threaten U.S. interests such as security or public safety.

GovTrack.us analysis (4/21/21): President Donald Trump instituted a travel ban on eight countries: Chad, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. The Supreme Court upheld the travel ban 5-4 in the 2018 decision Trump v. Hawaii. Trump`s travel ban was popularly nicknamed `the Muslim ban` by its Democratic critics since most of the countries it applied to were majority Muslim, and because Trump as a 2016 candidate had indeed proposed a Muslim ban. Regardless, President Joe Biden rescinded the policy on his first day in office. Currently, federal law bans any person from being discriminated against when entering the U.S. on the basis of five characteristics: race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence. The NO BAN Act would add another category: religion.

Rep. Tom McClintock in OPPOSITION: President Trump invoked this authority against countries that were hotbeds of international terrorism and that were not cooperating with the US in providing basic information about travelers coming from these countries. The left called it a `Muslim ban.` What nonsense. Without this authority, the president would have been powerless to take simple, prudent precautions against terrorists and criminals from entering the US.

Legislative Outcome: Passed House 218-208-3 on April 21, 2021, rollcall #127; introduced in Senate with 42 co-sponsors but no further Senate action during 2021.