2015 June/July Digital Edition

Editor’s Note: The following articles describing the records of five presidential candidates regarding immigration
have been used with permission of the non-profit, non-partisan American Immigration Council.
Immigration and Border Control: What Graham’s
candidacy brings to the GOP presidential field
By Wendy Feliz
June 5, 2015 – Earlier this week,
Lindsey graham became the ninth
candidate to announce his candidacy
for the Republican presidential
nomination. attempting to distinguish
himself from the other candidates,
graham is highlighting his
foreign policy and national security
experience. Yet, the area where he
undoubtedly leads the pack is his
leadership on immigration reform.
With longtime ally Senator John
McCain usually at his side, graham
has been involved in more than one
effort to pass an immigration bill
through the Senate. NBC News reports:
“…he has been a consistent
goP vote for immigration reform
legislation. His history of work on
immigration bills included collaboration
with the late Sen. ted Kennedy,
costing him conservative support
in his 2008 primary. Despite
that, he easily won re-election…
graham also was one of the negotiators
on the 2013 “gang of Eight”
immigration reform bill passed by
the Senate. “
Senator Lindsey Graham
Moreover, graham has continued
to proselytize the need for
immigration reform and has warned
his party that they ignore the immigration
issue at their own peril. He
said in 2014:
“if we become the party of self
deportation, if that again is our position
in 2016, we’re going to drive a
deep wedge between us and Hispanics.”
and “if you solve the immigration
problem in a good, american,
responsible way, our party’s back in
the game and we can dominate the
21st century.”
He’s also using his experience
working on immigration as a selling
point for his presidential nomination.
Bloomberg News reports:
“graham argued that he
would have the most credibility of
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any presidential candidate to push
through a permanent legislative
solution on immigration. ‘i think
i could sit down with Democrats,
who’ve known i’ve taken a beating
to try to get a fair compromise,’ he
said, referring to his co-authorship
of a sweeping immigration reform
bill that passed the Senate with bipartisan
support in 2013 and died in
the House. ‘and i think i could convince
my party that now’s the time
to get this behind us.’”
Senator graham’s entry into
the 2016 goP presidential mix will
hopefully provoke a conversation on
immigration policy. Where do the
candidates in his party stand on immigration
reform? Will they bring
solutions to the issue or politicize
it as in primaries past? graham has
the opportunity to challenge some
of those who refuse to tackle the
issue pragmatically and fairly. Let’s
hope he continues to champion the
issue for both the sake of his party
and the country.
Photo Courtesy of the Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
Immigration and Border Control: Presidential
candidate O’Malley’s immigration record
By Eric gibble
Former Governor Martin O’Malley
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June 1, 2015 – Former Maryland
governor Martin o’Malley recently
became the third Democratic
candidate to enter the 2016 presidential
race. in his announcement,
o’Malley said that “for the sake
of our country’s security, and our
country’s well-being, and our country’s
economic growth” comprehensive
immigration reform must
include a path to citizenship. However,
o’Malley has not only been
a vocal supporter of immigration
reform on the federal level, he also
took practical measures to welcome
immigrants in Maryland during his
two terms as governor.
o’Malley signed the Maryland
DREaM act, which allows
DREaMers who graduate from
Maryland high schools to pay the
same in-state college tuition rates as
other Marylanders. The bill was put
in limbo after Maryland’s Republican
lawmakers successfully petitioned
for a statewide referendum
on the issue. However, o’Malley
continued to strongly defend the law
by raising funds for the group Educating
Maryland Kids who worked
to defeat the referendum. Maryland
voters went on to defeat it and approve
the law in 2012.
also, under o’Malley, the
Baltimore City Detention Center
stopped automatically honoring detainer
requests from immigration
and Customs Enforcement (iCE)
to hold immigrants for deportation
and only honored these detainer
requests when an immigrant was
charged with or convicted of a felony,
three or more misdemeanors,
or a “serious” misdemeanor—or
the crimes that Secure Communities
was originally meant to target.
o’Malley said instead, resources
should be focused on “complying
with iCE detainers when there is an
actual threat to the public’s safety…
no family should be ripped apart
because the Republican Congress
can’t come to the table and reach a
reasonable compromise on comprehensive
immigration reform.” However,
he did face some criticism that
the measure was too narrow and did
not go far enough.
in 2013, o’Malley also signed
into law a measure that allowed undocumented
immigrants to obtain
drivers licenses. as transportation
expert Sarah Hendricks notes, this
allows Maryland to maximize on
the economic and social contributions
of undocumented immigrants
and improves public safety in the
state.
Then in 2014, when a surge
of Central american mothers and
their children came to the U.S. border
seeking refuge from violence
in their home countries o’Malley
took a distinctively different tone
from rival 2016 candidate Hillary
Clinton. While Clinton said that
those arriving should be sent back
to their home countries because
“we have to send a clear message
just because your child gets across
the border doesn’t mean your child
gets to stay,” o’Malley told reporters
at the National governors association
that “we are not a country that
should send children away and send
them back to certain death.” He also
encouraged members of the Hispanic
National Bar association to
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