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ImmigrationProf Blog
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Wall Street Journal: Bernie Sanders Touts Immigration Plans, but His Record Is “Complicated”

By immigrationprof

330px-Bernie_Sanders

At times in U.S. history, labor has supported immigration restrictions, with the Chinese exclusion laws a famous example.  Over time, organized labor’s positions have evolved on immigration.  President Trump at times has claimed to take tough immigration positions to protect U.S. workers and their wages.  Democratic presidential candidates must ensure consistency between their immigration and labor positions.

Eliza Collins and Joshua Jamerson for the Wall Street Journal consider Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sander’s immigration positions, which in the past have been critically analyzed.  According to his campaign website, Sanders supports the following: 

  • Enact comprehensive immigration reform, including a path towards citizenship.
  • Expand DACA and DAPA, including providing immediate legal status for young people eligible for the DACA program and developing a humane policy for those seeking asylum.
  • Completely reshape and reform our immigration enforcement system, including fundamentally restructuring ICE, an agency Senator Sanders voted against creating.
  • End the barbaric practice of family separation and detention of children in cages.
  • Dismantle cruel and inhumane deportation programs and detention centers.
  • Establish standards for independent oversight of relevant agencies within DHS.
     
     

Collins and Jamerson see Sanders’ immigration positions as “putting him in league with some of the most liberal Democrats despite his long-held concern that too much immigration could hurt American workers.” Over the weekend, Mr. Sanders became the first 2020 Democratic candidate to call for a temporary halt to deporting people who are in the country illegally, a position that is supported by many immigration activists but that almost no politicians have embraced.  “We are going to end the raids which are terrorizing communities all across this country. We are going to impose a moratorium on deportations,” Mr. Sanders said at an event focused on Latino voters. A spokeswoman for Mr. Sanders said the moratorium would be in place temporarily while an audit is completed.

 
The Wall Street Journal story goes on:  “Mr. Sanders’s current perch among the most immigration-friendly 2020 candidates differs sharply from his situation in his previous presidential bid. At the time, the Vermont lawmaker was forced to defend comments in which he described some forms of legal immigration as detrimental to American jobs, a sentiment echoed by President Trump as well as many labor unions.”

KJ

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