Immigration split president, state early on
The immigration issue has been a flash point between political leaders in Colorado and President Donald Trump’s administration since his first month in office.
Denver and other cities with policies that limit cooperation with the federal government have found themselves in the cross hairs of Trump-directed actions attempting to withhold government grants and ramping up arrests of immigrants in the country illegally.
Count the 2020 Democratic presidential field as largely on the side of the resistant local leaders — and the immigrants they say have been treated unfairly as the Trump administration has made numerous immigration policy changes.
The issue has featured in Democratic debates and has particular resonance in Colorado, where more than one in five residents is Latino.
Ahead of Colorado’s March 3 primary, here is a look at where the eight remaining major candidates stand on immigration-related issues. Still in the race are former Vice President Joe Biden, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, former
South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Trump’s record
The Republican president’s election in 2016 flipped the script on immigration, with Trump reversing or significantly changing President Barack Obama’s policies beginning when he took office.
Trump has moved to expand border fencing and add other barriers along the U.s.-mexico border to fulfill his campaign pledge to build a “border wall.” His administration also has cracked down on so-called sanctuary cities, lowered the number of refugees accepted in the United States, put new restrictions on asylum claims, restricted travel to the United States by citizens of certain countries — including several with large Muslim populations — and instituted a zero-tolerance policy at the border that resulted in the separation of thousands of children from their families. Many of his policies have been challenged in court.
Trump’s decision to end Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy — which allowed immigrants brought to the country illegally as children to avoid deportation for two-year intervals — is on hold, awaiting a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this year.
Trump has portrayed his actions as increasing U.S. security, but the Democratic candidates all have pledged to reverse most or all of his policies.
A path to citizenship
Debates during the last decade over what to do with the roughly 11 million people who are living in the U.S. illegally have failed to result in bipartisan agreement in Washington.
Also in limbo are the subset of about 700,000, called “Dreamers,” who were brought here as children and were the subject of Obama’s DACA policy.
All remaining Democratic candidates support establishing a path to citizenship for immigrants through various proposals.
Deportation policies
Trump has broadened immigrant deportation efforts, ending the Obama administration’s second-term policy of prioritizing the removal of convicted criminals, recent immigrants and national security threats.
• Supports a temporary moratorium on deportations: Sanders.
• Supports a return to Obama priorities: Buttigieg.
• Support tighter priorities: Biden, Bloomberg, Klobuchar, Steyer and Warren want to focus deportation on people who are criminals or pose national security threats, but not recent crossers.
• Unclear: Gabbard.
Decriminalizing border crossings
Entering into the United States at places other than legal ports of entry is a misdemeanor, and the Trump administration has used that law to separate families at the border and detain adults.
• Support decriminalization: Sanders, Steyer and Warren want to make illegal entry a civil matter, not criminal.
• Support using the law differently: Biden, Buttigieg and Klobuchar support either narrowing the law or using it more selectively.
• Unclear: Bloomberg and Gabbard haven’t outlined detailed positions, but say they want to end family separations at the border.
The border wall
All the Democratic candidates say they support more money for border security efforts, but they consider Trump’s call for a border wall to be wasteful and ineffective. Buttigieg and Gabbard have said, however, that they would consider physical barriers if experts recommend them in places, and Klobuchar has said she would consider some new wall funding if it’s part of a broader immigration compromise.
Abolishing ICE
ICE and Customs and Border Protection, another agency that oversees points of entry, have been decried by Democrats as too focused on detaining and deporting immigrants instead of other immigration priorities.
• Supports abolition: Sanders wants to dissolve both agencies and reassign their functions to other government agencies.
• Support alternatives: Bloomberg, Buttigieg, Gabbard, Klobuchar, Steyer and Warren have said they would consider restructuring the agencies or reassigning some functions.
• Supports more oversight: Biden says he’d demand more transparency and oversight for the agencies.
Covering immigrants’ health care
Several candidates have said their proposals for health care expansions would cover immigrants who are in the country illegally.
• Support: Biden, Sanders, Steyer and Warren have each said their proposals would give immigrants access to care.
• Limited options: Buttigieg says immigrants here illegally would be able to buy into his public insurance option, and Klobuchar said the government should cover immediate care needs until broader immigration reform is worked out.
• Unclear: Bloomberg and Gabbard.