Presidential hopefuls — Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Julian Castro and Jay Inslee — talk details about immigration
Four Democratic presidential candidates on Friday talked about a hot-button issue few of their 20 or so competitors have tackled with specific policy plans: immigration.
And they did so before a roomful of immigrants.
Senators Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris, former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee took turns answering questions in Pasadena before a crowd of some 500 immigrant-rights advocates from across the country.
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Asked what they would do during their first 100 days, all four committed to pushing for immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people who are in the country illegally. They said, as president, that they would use executive authority if necessary to restore immigration programs that the Trump administration has worked to dismantle, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which protects young people brought illegally to the country as children. And all agreed they end a Trump-administration travel ban against mostly Muslim-majority countries.
The candidates – in California to attend this weekend’s Democratic Party State Convention in San Francisco – came onstage one at a time to answer prepared questions from audience members and moderators Dorian Warren and Angelica Salas.
Warren is president of Community Change Action, a Washington, D.C.-based organization working to build social movements, and Salas leads the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles Action Fund. Their groups, with the Washington, D.C.-based Fair Immigration Reform Movement Action, co-sponsored the event at the Hilton Pasadena, which was billed as “Immigrant Unity and Freedom Presidential Forum of 2019.”
Though it was closed to the public, an estimated 7.1 million viewers watched a live stream of the candidates via the Telemundo Spanish-language network.
“For the candidates to talk about immigration, with immigrants, that was the most important part,” Salas said.
“I think they got the message. They understand that this issue has an urgency in people’s lives.”
While all four candidates drew positive responses from the audience, Sanders appeared to be a favorite, with the crowd breaking into chants of “Bernie” during his time on stage.
Like the others, Sanders offered sharp criticism of the Trump’s administration retooling of the nation’s immigration policies.
“We have a president who is a racist, who is a pathological liar, who thinks he can win reelection by dividing the American people,” Sanders told the crowd.
“The American people are sick and tired of Trump demonizing immigrants.”
Here are some highlights of what each candidate said:
Bernie Sanders
Sanders reiterated his stance on immigration — which includes a pathway to citizenship and dialing back Trump policies. But he also discussed other issues, with an emphasis on “the global crisis of climate change.”
He also said he wants guaranteed health care for all – including those who are not legal residents – educational reform and tuition free public colleges, a higher minimum wage and a reform of the criminal justice system, which he said is “broken and racist.”
Kamala Harris
California’s former state attorney general echoed the other candidates in saying she would undo many of Trump’s policies, including revoking the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries.
Harris said there’s bipartisan support in Congress to tackle immigration reform. Until the issue is resolved, she said, there will continue to be “real consequences to real human beings,”
Julian Castro
Castro was cheered for being the first of the presidential hopefuls to offer details about his plans for immigration.
Castro said, as president, he would decriminalize border crossings, increase refugee admissions and eliminate for-profit immigrant detention facilities. He also would welcome back U.S. veterans who’ve been deported, and end requirements that force some migrants to leave the U.S. for years before they can become citizens.
“This president thinks he’s going to win in 2020 on the backs of our immigrants,” Castro told the crowd. “I’m determined to makes sure that he loses.”
Jay Inslee
Though the Washington governor has focused on climate change and an economy that relies on clean energy and not fossil fuels, earlier Friday he offered a detailed immigration plan.
Among other things, Inslee would increase the number of refugees accepted into the country and boost foreign aid to Central America, a reversal of a recent Trump administration move to cut aid to the region. Countries in the region, including Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, have produced the most current asylum seekers, in part because of violence and poor economies in those countries.
Staff Writer Jeff Collins contributed to this report.