The Making of the President 2016: Part 28 The Issues-Immigration
The Clinton Campaign
Both campaigns seem to agree that the current system of immigration is flawed. Hillary Clinton's campaign website promises that "as president, she will work to fix our broken immigration system". He website pledges to treat immigrants "with dignity and respect—and that we embrace immigrants, not denigrate them."
Clinton promises to introduce comprehensive immigration reform that would create a pathway to full and equal citizenship, and she promises to do so within her first 100 days in office. She says that her program will address the family visa backlog, while upholding the rule of law, protecting borders and national security.
She is critical of the current 3 and 10-year bars which she says forces illegal immigrants into the unacceptable dilemma of either remaining in the country illegally, or take legal steps to pursue a green card from outside of the country, leaving their loved ones behind. She says that with the Supreme Court deadlocked on President Obama's DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans) Plan, this serves as a reminder of how high the stakes are in this election. She believes DAPA to be within the president’s authority and believes that the estimated 5 million people eligible for DAPA should be protected. Clinton warns that if Congress keeps failing to act on comprehensive immigration reform, she will enact a simple system for those with sympathetic cases to be eligible for deferred action.
Clinton also promises that she will enforce immigration laws humanely. She pledges to focus resources on detaining and deporting those individuals who pose a violent threat to public safety, and ensure refugees who seek asylum in the U.S. have a fair chance to be heard. She also promises to end family detention and close private immigration detention centers.
Clinton has promised to expand access to affordable health care to all families, regardless of immigration status, permitting them to buy into the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
She pledges to work to alleviate naturalization costs, increase access to language programs to encourage English proficiency, and increase outreach and education to help more people navigate the process. She plans to create a national Office of Immigrant Affairs, and to support affordable integration services through $15 million in new grant funding for community navigators and similar organizations, and significantly increase federal resources for adult English language education and citizenship education.
The Trump Campaign
Donald Trump is critical of current immigration policy. He has expressed concern that lax immigration policies jeopardize the jobs, wages and security of American citizens. He pledges to establish new immigration controls to ensure that open jobs are offered to American workers first. He argues that this will protect the economic well-being of lawful immigrants by curbing uncontrolled foreign worker admissions
Under Trump's plan, immigrants would be selected based on their likelihood of success in the U.S. and their ability to be financially self-sufficient. He favors a vetting system that would vet applicants to ensure they support America’s values, institutions and people. He also wants to temporarily suspend immigration from regions that export terrorism and where safe vetting cannot presently be ensured.
Trump promises stronger enforcement of immigration laws. He has put forth a "10 Point Plan to Put America First". These are the 10 points:
1. Begin working on an impenetrable physical wall on the southern border, on day one. Mexico will pay for the wall.
2. End catch-and-release. Under a Trump administration, anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country.
3. Move criminal aliens out day one, in joint operations with local, state, and federal law enforcement. Trump will terminate the Obama administration’s deadly, non-enforcement policies that allow thousands of criminal aliens to freely roam our streets.
4. End sanctuary cities.
5. Immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties. All immigration laws will be enforced. Trump promises to triple the number of ICE agents. Anyone who enters the U.S. illegally is subject to deportation.
6. Suspend the issuance of visas to any place where adequate screening cannot occur, until proven and effective vetting mechanisms can be put into place.
7. Ensure that other countries take their people back when we order them deported.
8. Ensure that a biometric entry-exit visa tracking system is fully implemented at all land, air, and sea ports.
9. Turn off the jobs and benefits magnet. Many immigrants come to the U.S. illegally in search of jobs, even though federal law prohibits the employment of illegal immigrants.
10. Reform legal immigration to serve the best interests of America and its workers, keeping immigration levels within historic norms.
Trump argues that illegal immigrants and other non-citizens in our prisons and jails accounted for approximately 25,000 homicide arrests. He claims that current immigration policy costs taxpayers $300 billion a year and that there are at least 2 million convicted criminal aliens now inside the country. He claims that since 2013, the Obama Administration has allowed 300,000 criminal aliens to return back into U.S. communities. He notes that, between September 11, 2001 and the end of 2014, at least 380 foreign-born individuals were convicted in terror cases inside the United States.
Trump is critical of that fact that, in the last five years, the United States has admitted nearly 100,000 immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan. He also notes that between 2008 and 2014, nearly 13,000 criminal aliens were released back into U.S. communities because their home countries would not take them back. Trump claims that 62% percent of households headed by illegal immigrants used some form of cash or non-cash welfare programs, like food stamps or housing assistance. He adds that almost 1 million illegal immigrants, including nearly 200,000 with criminal convictions, were ordered deported but remain at large. He says that between 2013 and 2015, the Obama Administration released over 86,000 criminal aliens from custody. In 2015 alone, ICE freed 19,723 criminal aliens, who had 64,197 convictions among them. These included 8,234 violent convictions and 208 homicide convictions.
Both campaigns seem to agree that the current system of immigration is flawed. Hillary Clinton's campaign website promises that "as president, she will work to fix our broken immigration system". He website pledges to treat immigrants "with dignity and respect—and that we embrace immigrants, not denigrate them."
Clinton promises to introduce comprehensive immigration reform that would create a pathway to full and equal citizenship, and she promises to do so within her first 100 days in office. She says that her program will address the family visa backlog, while upholding the rule of law, protecting borders and national security.
She is critical of the current 3 and 10-year bars which she says forces illegal immigrants into the unacceptable dilemma of either remaining in the country illegally, or take legal steps to pursue a green card from outside of the country, leaving their loved ones behind. She says that with the Supreme Court deadlocked on President Obama's DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans) Plan, this serves as a reminder of how high the stakes are in this election. She believes DAPA to be within the president’s authority and believes that the estimated 5 million people eligible for DAPA should be protected. Clinton warns that if Congress keeps failing to act on comprehensive immigration reform, she will enact a simple system for those with sympathetic cases to be eligible for deferred action.
Clinton also promises that she will enforce immigration laws humanely. She pledges to focus resources on detaining and deporting those individuals who pose a violent threat to public safety, and ensure refugees who seek asylum in the U.S. have a fair chance to be heard. She also promises to end family detention and close private immigration detention centers.
Clinton has promised to expand access to affordable health care to all families, regardless of immigration status, permitting them to buy into the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
She pledges to work to alleviate naturalization costs, increase access to language programs to encourage English proficiency, and increase outreach and education to help more people navigate the process. She plans to create a national Office of Immigrant Affairs, and to support affordable integration services through $15 million in new grant funding for community navigators and similar organizations, and significantly increase federal resources for adult English language education and citizenship education.
The Trump Campaign
Donald Trump is critical of current immigration policy. He has expressed concern that lax immigration policies jeopardize the jobs, wages and security of American citizens. He pledges to establish new immigration controls to ensure that open jobs are offered to American workers first. He argues that this will protect the economic well-being of lawful immigrants by curbing uncontrolled foreign worker admissions
Under Trump's plan, immigrants would be selected based on their likelihood of success in the U.S. and their ability to be financially self-sufficient. He favors a vetting system that would vet applicants to ensure they support America’s values, institutions and people. He also wants to temporarily suspend immigration from regions that export terrorism and where safe vetting cannot presently be ensured.
Trump promises stronger enforcement of immigration laws. He has put forth a "10 Point Plan to Put America First". These are the 10 points:
1. Begin working on an impenetrable physical wall on the southern border, on day one. Mexico will pay for the wall.
2. End catch-and-release. Under a Trump administration, anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country.
3. Move criminal aliens out day one, in joint operations with local, state, and federal law enforcement. Trump will terminate the Obama administration’s deadly, non-enforcement policies that allow thousands of criminal aliens to freely roam our streets.
4. End sanctuary cities.
5. Immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties. All immigration laws will be enforced. Trump promises to triple the number of ICE agents. Anyone who enters the U.S. illegally is subject to deportation.
6. Suspend the issuance of visas to any place where adequate screening cannot occur, until proven and effective vetting mechanisms can be put into place.
7. Ensure that other countries take their people back when we order them deported.
8. Ensure that a biometric entry-exit visa tracking system is fully implemented at all land, air, and sea ports.
9. Turn off the jobs and benefits magnet. Many immigrants come to the U.S. illegally in search of jobs, even though federal law prohibits the employment of illegal immigrants.
10. Reform legal immigration to serve the best interests of America and its workers, keeping immigration levels within historic norms.
Trump argues that illegal immigrants and other non-citizens in our prisons and jails accounted for approximately 25,000 homicide arrests. He claims that current immigration policy costs taxpayers $300 billion a year and that there are at least 2 million convicted criminal aliens now inside the country. He claims that since 2013, the Obama Administration has allowed 300,000 criminal aliens to return back into U.S. communities. He notes that, between September 11, 2001 and the end of 2014, at least 380 foreign-born individuals were convicted in terror cases inside the United States.
Trump is critical of that fact that, in the last five years, the United States has admitted nearly 100,000 immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan. He also notes that between 2008 and 2014, nearly 13,000 criminal aliens were released back into U.S. communities because their home countries would not take them back. Trump claims that 62% percent of households headed by illegal immigrants used some form of cash or non-cash welfare programs, like food stamps or housing assistance. He adds that almost 1 million illegal immigrants, including nearly 200,000 with criminal convictions, were ordered deported but remain at large. He says that between 2013 and 2015, the Obama Administration released over 86,000 criminal aliens from custody. In 2015 alone, ICE freed 19,723 criminal aliens, who had 64,197 convictions among them. These included 8,234 violent convictions and 208 homicide convictions.