Tim Kaine Interview on Unaccompanied Children, DREAMers, and Immigration Reform

July 25, 2016

From Telmundo:

Interviewed: Newly appointed Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Tim Kaine.

Correspondent: Rebeka Smyth.

Airing Time: “Noticias Telemundo” at 6:30 PM/5:30 C

Interviewer: Thank you very much for your time.

From a very young age, you were interested in Latin America, in learning Spanish. Now, if you have the opportunity to be vice president, how will you stand up for immigrants?

TK: All of the issues are important to the Latino community, but now, as a candidate for vice president, I can work more not just with people in Virginia, but everywhere.

Interviewer: If you became vice president, what is the first thing you would do to support immigrants? Would there be immigration reform?

TK: Hillary is going to do that in the first 100 days of her administration. She is going to make a big effort in Congress to get reform passed, and with my experience in the Senate, with bipartisan colleagues, I am going to work hard – especially in Congress – to help this effort, and other issues, too. In Honduras, where I lived a long time ago, there is a lot of violence right now, and children are coming here from countries like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala because of that. I hope I could help work with the governments there to support their efforts at economic development, to combat the violence. Our nations should work together to end this situation.

Interviewer: About those children you just mentioned, Hillary Clinton said at one point that children have come to the United States since 2014 should be deported. During her campaign she has changed her statement. Why has she changed her mind? Can we trust Hillary Clinton on this?

TK: It’s important to have a system to control the border, and so when we first started getting flooded with people it was difficult to decide what to do. But now we understand the reasons why those children are coming here. Americans buy illegal drugs from south of the border, and the money from those drug deals goes back south. In societies like Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, that money becomes a source of corruption and violence. Many of the children who are traveling thousands of kilometers to come here are escaping from the consequences of illegal drugs. We in this country have a responsibility to work together to find a solution to this problem. These children should be able to have a secure future in their own countries.

Interviewer: Of course, but those children who are coming to the United States … Hillary has changed what she says about them in her speeches. Does that mean they won’t be deported now?

TK: I think many of them could have a chance at asylum, if they have lawyers, but others won’t have that opportunity because they don’t entirely meet the rules for asylum status. But asylum is appropriate for some of these people, and they should be able to stay here under the rules.

Interviewer: Why should Hispanics believe in the Democratic Party, considering that during Obama’s presidency alone 2 million people have been deported? His administration has deported more immigrants than any other, so why should we trust the Democrats?

TK: We are fighting every day to reform the system. All Democrats – the president, Secretary Clinton, senators, the Democrats in the House of Representatives – are working every day for reform, while almost all of the Republicans, especially in the House of Representatives, are working against us. Hillary Clinton supported immigration reform as a senator in 2006, and she has the same opinion now – she wants to fight for this. Donald Trump, on the other hand, is not only fighting against reform of the immigration system, but has also shown ill will toward immigrants of all types – new immigrants, the governor of New Mexico, a respected federal judge. For Donald Trump, Latinos are second-class citizens. We believe we are all Americans. We believe we are strong together. There is a big difference in this sense between the two parties and the candidates.

Interviewer: It’s important to point out that you are a lawyer and understand very well how the laws work in this country because of that. So what can you do to support immigrants and the 11 million people whose lives are now in limbo? How can you help them have a decent life and stay in this country legally?

TK: That’s the big hope. There are a lot of people – the “Dreamers” and others – who want a path to citizenship, for example, a chance to come out of the shadows. But there’s something else we have to do: There are now eight justices on the Supreme Court. With nine justices, I think the Court would approve President Obama’s executive orders on DAPA and DACA. The Republicans are fighting the Court, because they don’t want a Court that would approve the president’s actions. And so, there is a big difference, and because of that the struggle between now and November is very important. There are other issues too, of course, but support for new Americans is one of our country’s values and a value that Secretary Clinton holds dear, and that’s going to make a big difference.

And another thing: Latino voters in this country can make a difference in these elections. There are nearly 27 or 28 million Latino adults who can vote, but normally only 11, 12 or 13 million of them come out to vote in elections. The community has a lot of power: It can make a difference here in Virginia and in other states as well, and I think the differences between the candidates are going to result in a lot of enthusiasm among voters.

Interviewer: Given the importance of the Latino vote, and the power the Latino vote has today, why should Latinos vote for you? What are you going to do for them? If the Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate anyway, we’d just be in the same position we are in today.

TK: Yes, I’m going to talk about that. In the Senate, we still have a bipartisan agreement to reform the system. Many of my Republican colleagues are saying that after January we have to do something to reform the system. A lot of Republicans in the Senate support this. In the House of Representatives, things are little different. But Paul Ryan, the Speaker, understands numbers. He understands votes. November is going to send a signal, a strong message about voters’ opinions. If Hillary is the president, her support for immigration reform is going to be one of the most important things in this campaign. I think she is going to win, because voters are going to send a message that they want the system to be reformed. Paul Ryan and the other leaders of his party are going to understand that if they want a future for their party they are going to have to work together to find a solution to this.