Republican debaters just voiced their so-called immigration plans. As expected, it was more of the same right-wing extremism. Check out their past bouts of xenophobic fear mongering (Trump’s too):
The GOP on Immigration
Donald Trump
Path to Citizenship
Donald Trump: “No citizenship.” “TRUMP: Excuse me. We’ve got to find them. Politicians aren’t going to find them, because they have no clue. We will find them the. We will get them out. BASH: When you say, still, get them out, just the process of that. There are a lot of smart people who have been focused on it for a long time, say it’s just not feasible. TRUMP: It’s feasible if you know how to manage. Politicians don’t know how to manage. We have to bring great people into this country, OK? And I want to bring — I love the idea of immigration. But it’s got to be legal immigration. […] BASH: When you say legal, do you mean legal status or can they be eligible for citizenship? TRUMP: Legal status. BASH: No citizenship? TRUMP: No citizenship.” [CNN’s New Day, 7/30/15]
Donald Trump on undocumented immigrants: “They have to go.” “Donald Trump would reverse President Obama’s executive orders on immigration and deport all undocumented immigrants from the U.S. as president, he said in an exclusive interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd. ‘We’re going to keep the families together, but they have to go,’ he said in the interview, which aired in full on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday. Pressed on what he’d do if the immigrants in question had nowhere to return to, Trump reiterated: ‘They have to go.’ ‘We will work with them. They have to go. Chuck, we either have a country, or we don’t have a country,’ he said.” [NBC News, 8/16/15]
Birthright Citizenship
Donald Trump made ending birthright citizenship a pillar of his immigration plan, calling it “the biggest magnet for illegal immigration.” “End birthright citizenship. This remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration. By a 2:1 margin, voters say it’s the wrong policy, including Harry Reid who said ‘no sane country’ would give automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.” [“Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again,” accessed 8/20/15]
Donald Trump: “I’ll use the word anchor baby.” REPORTER: Are you aware that the term anchor baby, that’s an offensive term, people find that hurtful TRUMP: You mean it’s not political correct and yet everybody uses it? REPORTER: Look it up in the dictionary, it’s offensive. TRUMP: So you know what? Give me a different term, give me a different term. What else would you like to say? REPORTER: The child, the American born child of an undocumented immigrant. TRUMP: You want me to say that? Okay, I’ll use the word anchor baby. Excuse me – REPORTER: Why do you have to use that phrase? TRUMP: I’ll use the word anchor baby.” [ABC News, 8/19/15]
Donald Trump: “Some four million anchor babies are now officially U.S. citizens. This has to stop.” “Some four million anchor babies are now officially U.S. citizens. This has to stop. The only other major country in the world that issues citizenship based on where one’s mother delivers her child is Canada. The rest of the world bases citizenship on who the kid’s parents are, which is of course the only sane standard.” [Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again, pg. 141, 2011]
Deportation
Donald Trump pushed for mass deportations. “And Mr. Trump’s plan for mass deportations — ‘They have to go,’ he said — which is supported by a sizable minority of Republican voters nationwide, has encouraged rivals to similarly push the edges on immigration.” [New York Times, 8/19/15]
Donald Trump’s proposal to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants could cost taxpayers upwards of $137 billion. “Trump said that ‘illegal immigration’ cost ‘more than $200 billion a year.’ We couldn’t find any support for that. Actually, it could cost taxpayers $137 billion or more to deport the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally, as Trump proposes.” [USA Today, 9/17/15]
Donald Trump suggested he would deport DREAMers. DONALD TRUMP: “We will find them the. [sic] We will get them out.” […] BASH: “What about the DREAMers? What about people who came here when they were children? They didn’t know what they were doing. They came with their parents, who brought them here illegally. Now many of them are upstanding citizens. We — again, you’re right, we don’t know how many people, but about maybe even 1.8 million people fall under this category. Should they be able to stay legally?” […] TRUMP: “But the DREAMers, it’s a tough situation. We’re going to do something. And one of the things we’re going to do is expedite. When somebody is terrific, we want them back here. They have to be legally.” BASH: “So they have to leave, too?” TRUMP: “They’re with their parents. It depends. But look, it sounds cold, and it sounds hard. We have a country. Our country is going to hell. We have to have a system where people are legally in our country.” [CNN’s New Day, 7/30/15]
Ted Cruz
Path to Citizenship
Ted Cruz: “I think a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally is profoundly unfair.” “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said Sunday that a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants would be unfair to those who have legally immigrated to the United States. ‘I think a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally is profoundly unfair to the millions of legal immigrants who followed the rules,’ Cruz said during an interview for ABC’s ‘This Week.’ Cruz added that he does not think a bill with such a path can pass the Republican-controlled House.” [Washington Post, 7/21/13]
Ted Cruz sponsored an amendment that would prevent undocumented immigrants from gaining citizenship. “Cruz 1322: Ensure that illegal immigrants who are given legal status under this bill are not given a path to citizenship. Providing a path to citizenship undermines the rule of law and is an insult to the millions who have immigrated to the U.S. legally. This Amendment prevents those currently here illegally who are offered legal status under this Act from obtaining citizenship.” [Press Release, Office of Senator Cruz, 6/19/13]
Birthright Citizenship
Ted Cruz said the Constitution should “absolutely” be changed to end birthright citizenship. “When the Texas senator was asked Wednesday on the Michael Medved show if the 14th Amendment should be changed, Cruz answered ‘absolutely.’ ‘We should end granting automatic birthright citizenship to the children of those who are here illegally,’ he said.” Bloomberg, 8/19/15]
Deportation
Ted Cruz said he supported deporting all undocumented immigrants in the United States and barring them from legal reentry and becoming citizens. “Ted Cruz said during an appearance in Iowa on Monday that there’s a difference between him and Donald Trump on immigration. The Texas senator, who is leading the field of Republican presidential candidates in Iowa according to the latest polls, was asked by a man in the state if, like Trump, he believed that all undocumented immigrants should be deported. Cruz replied, ‘Absolutely yes.’ ‘And in fact, look, there’s a difference,’ said Cruz. ‘He’s advocated allowing folks to come back in and become citizens. I oppose that.’” [Buzzfeed,1/5/16]
Ted Cruz opposed the DREAM Act. “Let’s start with how Cruz, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, stands on the cited act. We didn’t have to look far. In a transcribed interview with blogger Sonja Harris of Conservatives in Action that Cruz has on his campaign website, the candidate says: ‘I do not support the DREAM Act and categorically oppose amnesty. I categorically oppose amnesty, and I strongly support legal immigration for those that have followed the rules and come here to pursue the American dream.’” [PolitiFact, 2/21/12]
Ted Cruz called for using “any and all means” to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Tuesday fed speculation he might try to force a government shutdown in an effort to end deportation relief for young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. ‘I think we should use any and all means necessary to prevent the president from illegally granting amnesty,’ Cruz told reporters at a press conference, adding it would be ‘appropriate’ to include a measure ending the relief policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (or DACA), in an upcoming continuing resolution to fund the government.” [Huffington Post, 9/9/14]
Ted Cruz introduced legislation that would undo Pres. Obama’s expansion of DACA. “U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today introduced legislation to prevent the Obama Administration from using any taxpayer funds to expand DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and from continuing to lawlessly grant amnesty and work permits to new immigrants who enter the country illegally. He also outlined guiding principles that Congress should keep in mind when considering reforms.” [Press Release, Office of Senator Cruz, 7/17/14; S. 2631, 7/17/14]
Ted Cruz refused to say whether he would deport the American citizen children of undocumented immigrants as President. “KELLY: — Under his policy. What would a President Cruz do? Do the American citizen children of two illegal immigrants who are born here, the children, do they get deported under a President Cruz? CRUZ: Megyn, I get that that is the question you want to ask, that’s also the question every mainstream liberal journalist wants to ask. KELLY: Is it an unfair question? CRUZ: They focus exclusively on the 12 million people. It is a distraction from how we actually solve the problem. You know, it is also the question Barack Obama wants to focus on. KELLY: Why is it so hard? Why don’t you just say yes or no? CRUZ: Because Megyn, we need to solve the problem.” [Fox News’ The Kelly File, 8/25/15]
Marco Rubio
Path to Citizenship
2010: Marco Rubio said a path to citizenship was “code for amnesty.” “As in previous debates, Rubio differed with Crist and Meek on immigration. He said the ‘pathway to citizenship’ favored by Meek and ‘earned path’ favored by Crist are ‘basically code for amnesty.’ Rubio said he doesn’t favor mass deportations of people in the country illegally. He said that after the U.S. secures its borders it can set up a system, and then people without documents ‘will be able to leave this country, return to their homeland, and try to reenter through our system that now functions, a system that makes sense.” [Palm Beach Post, 10/25/10]
2010: Marco Rubio said it was “unfair to create an alternate pathway for individuals who entered illegally.” “It was December 2012. The Senate gym. Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) was making the ask. ‘You ought to be a part of this,’ Durbin told Rubio (R-Fla.), as Rubio rode a stationary bike. Durbin and six other senators wanted to rewrite U.S. immigration laws. In the process, they wanted to give illegal immigrants a way to become legal residents and — eventually — citizens. Just two years earlier, Rubio had been against doing that. ‘It is unfair,’ he had said, as a tea party candidate for Senate, ‘to create an alternative pathway for individuals who entered illegally.’” [Washington Post,4/24/15]
2013: Marco Rubio: “What I’ve never been for is a special pathway to citizenship.” “What I’ve never been for is a special pathway to citizenship. Let me just remind everybody there is no such thing as a path to citizenship. You can’t go from being an immigrant to a citizen. You have to go to get a green card first. What efforts (ph) in the past has done is they’ve awarded people green cards. It’s basically says if you’ve been here for x number of years, we’ll give you a green card. And then once you get a green card, in three to five years, you can apply for citizenship in three to five years. I’m not saying we should do that.” [CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper, 3/19/13]
2013: Marco Rubio: “When some time has elapsed and the security measures are in place, then the only thing people would get is the opportunity to apply for a green card.” “I’m saying that all we do is we allow people to earn, to basically apply for and if they qualify, receive a legal status. And then at some point in the future, when some time has elapsed and the security measures are in place, then the only thing people would get is the opportunity to apply for a green card. We wouldn’t award one, either. And then if they were to receive the green card, then of course they can apply for citizenship at some point in the future after that. That’s been my position. It’s not to have a special pathway to green card citizenship or anything else because it is unfair to the people that are doing the right way and it would incentivize illegal immigration in the future. That’s been my position all along. We’re not going do special pathways that discourage people from doing it the right way.” [CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper, 3/19/13]
June 2015: Marco Rubio: “I do” support a pathway to citizenship, but only after lawmakers “prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control.”“Many conservatives — and, indeed, many people — have been confused about what, exactly, Marco Rubio’s position is on immigration now that he’s said he regrets his support for the failed Gang of Eight bill. In an interview with New Hampshire’s local ABC station on Friday, Rubio made clear that he remains a supporter of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. ‘I do,’ Rubio said, when asked if he supports a path to citizenship for those currently in the United States illegally. First, though, Rubio said lawmakers have to ‘prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control,’ implement an e-verify system, and modernize our legal immigration system.” [National Review, 6/30/15]
September 2015: Marco Rubio ruled out a path to citizenship during his presidency. “Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio has effectively ruled out granting legal status to undocumented immigrants if he makes it to the White House, even for a second term. Pressed by conservative host Sean Hannity during a Monday night interview on Fox News, the Florida senator said he’s open to a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally, but only a decade or more after passage of bills to secure the border and modernize the legal immigration system. ‘I don’t think it’s a decision you have to make on the front end. The first two things you have to do is stop illegal immigration, then second you have to modernize our legal immigration system, and then third you can have a debate about how to even legalize people to begin with,’ Rubio said. ‘And then ultimately in 10 or 12 years you could have a broader debate about how has this worked out and should we allow some of them to apply for green cards and eventually citizenship.’” [Bloomberg, 9/22/15]
January 2016: Marco Rubio said supporting a path to citizenship was “not a yes or no answer.” “An Iowa voter here had a straightforward question Monday for Marco Rubio: ‘Do you support a path to citizenship for illegal aliens?’ But Rubio’s answer was anything but. ‘It’s not a yes or no answer,’ Rubio said, adding that the U.S. can’t deport 12 million people. Most Republicans back work permits for undocumented immigrants, he said. Some would be deported, and others would face ‘significant consequences.’ And eventually some can ‘apply’ for green cards, but Rubio didn’t express his preference on citizenship.” [CNN, 1/18/16]
Birthright Citizenship
Marco Rubio said he was “open to exploring ways” to limit birthright citizenship in the United States. “Marco Rubio, who is running for president thanks to birthright citizenship, says he is open to the idea of ending it for children who were born in the United States to foreign parents. ‘I’m not in favor of repealing the 14th Amendment,’ Rubio said during a Tuesday news conference at the rain-soaked Iowa State Fair. ‘But I am open to exploring ways of not allowing people who are coming here deliberately for that purpose to acquire citizenship.’” [National Journal, 8/18/15]
Deportation
Marco Rubio cosponsored a bill “favored by the [Republican] party’s staunchest immigration opponents” to crack down on sanctuary cities. “Marco Rubio’s support for comprehensive immigration reform two years ago remains a major question mark hovering over his presidential campaign, even as he’s cracked top-tier status in the GOP field. On Tuesday, the freshman senator’s tightrope walk on the issue will continue, when the Senate takes up a bill, co-sponsored by Rubio and favored by the party’s staunchest immigration opponents, to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities.” [Politico, 10/20/15]
Marco Rubio called on the Obama administration to “wind down” deferred action, which would restart the deportation of young undocumented immigrants. “Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Thursday called on the Obama administration to ‘wind down’ a policy that has helped more than 550,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, an action that would restart deportations of young people who have lived here for years. Rubio’s demand came in a statement outlining suggestions for addressing the crisis of more than 57,000 unaccompanied minors who have crossed the U.S. border illegally since October.” [Huffington Post, 7/25/14]
Marco Rubio opposed the DREAM Act while running for Senate. “In the Senate race, Meek and Crist, who’s running as an independent, have voiced their support for the DREAM Act. Republican candidate Marco Rubio said he opposes the legislation.” [The Miami Herald, 9/21/10]
Ben Carson
Path to Citizenship
Ben Carson said he would allow some undocumented immigrants to “become guest workers, not citizens, not voting people, not people who get goodies.”“CARSON: You also turn off the spigot that dispenses the goodies… DICKERSON: Right. CARSON: … so that people don’t have any incentive to come here. And then those who are here, you know, we have to recognize that we can’t just round them up, but we can give them an opportunity to register. I would give them a six-month period. And if they register and they have a pristine record, they haven’t been causing problems, I would give them an opportunity to become guest workers, not citizens, not voting people, not people who get goodies.” [CBS’s Face the Nation, 9/13/15]
Ben Carson said that undocumented immigrants “would have to leave” the United States and “should in no way be rewarded for having broken our laws.” “People already here illegally could apply for guest-worker status from outside of the country. This means they would have to leave first. They should in no way be rewarded for having broken our laws, but if they are wise, they will arrange with their employer before they leave to immediately offer them a legal job as soon as their application is received.” [Ben Carson op-ed, National Review, 11/12/14]
Birthright Citizenship
Ben Carson: “About anchor babies…It doesn’t make any sense to me that people could come in here, have a baby and that baby becomes an American citizen.”“The neurosurgeon outlined his views on the topic at a rally in Phoenix on Tuesday. ‘I know the 14th Amendment has brought up recently, about anchor babies—and it doesn’t make any sense to me that people could come in here, have a baby and that baby becomes an American citizen. There are many countries in the world where they simply have recognized that and don’t allow that to occur,’ Carson said.” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]
Deportation
Ben Carson said Pres. Obama’s executive actions to protect certain undocumented immigrants from deportation made him “very much like Putin.” “‘This is going to keep going until you stop them. Our president is very much like Putin,’ said Carson, referring to the president’s alleged overreach on immigration.” [Daily Caller, 11/21/14]
Jeb Bush
Path to Citizenship
Jeb Bush, when asked if he supported a pathway to citizenship: “No.” “During an interview Wednesday with the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, Mr. Bush was asked whether he supported a pathway to full citizenship. He replied, ‘No.’ ‘What do we do with the 11 million people here? I think the answer is earned legal status,’ he said.” [Washington Times, 7/8/15]
Jeb Bush reversed from his past support for a pathway to citizenship. “In an apparent reversal from his past statements, former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday that his immigration reform plan would ‘fall short’ of offering a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants living in the United States — a key provision being put forward by the bipartisan group leading reform efforts on Capitol Hill.” [NBC’s First Read, 3/4/13]
Birthright Citizenship
Jeb Bush called American citizens born to undocumented immigrants “anchor babies.” “Jeb Bush doesn’t want birthright citizenship to go away, but he is calling for stronger enforcement for people who abuse it. ‘If there’s abuse, if people are bringing — pregnant women are coming in to have babies simply because they can do it, then there ought to be greater enforcement,’ Bush said on Bill Bennett’s conservative radio show, ‘Morning in America’ Wednesday. ‘That’s [the] legitimate side of this. Better enforcement so that you don’t have these, you know, ‘anchor babies’, as they’re described, coming into the country.’ ‘Anchor babies’ is a derogatory term used to describe children who are born in the United States to undocumented parents.” [Politico, 8/19/15]
Jeb Bush on the term “anchor babies”: “You give me a better term and I’ll use it.” “A feistier, combative Jeb Bush said Thursday that he doesn’t believe the term ‘anchor babies’ is offensive and blamed Democrats for perpetuating the idea that it’s a loaded term. In one of his most aggressive exchanges with reporters to date, Bush dismissed suggestions that the two-word term deemed offensive by many Hispanics and denounced by Democrats is improper. ‘Do you have a better term? You give me a better term and I’ll use it,’ he snapped at a reporter who asked him.” [Washington Post, 8/20/15]
Jeb Bush on the term “anchor babies”: “Frankly it’s more related to Asian people.” “Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush attempted to clarify his remarks about ‘anchor babies’ during a stop near the U.S. border with Mexico on Monday, saying Asian immigrants are really more of the problem. When asked if he thought his repeated use of the term ‘anchor babies’ – a derogatory term for children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrant parents – Bush said: ‘What I was talking about was the specific case of fraud being committed where there’s organized efforts, and frankly, it’s more related to Asian people coming into our country and having children in that organized effort.’” [Talking Points Memo, 8/24/15]
Deportation
Jeb Bush suggested that the U.S. government should track down and deport more than 4 million visa overstays. “‘A great nation needs to control its border,’ Bush told the audience in San Francisco, ‘not just at the border, which is hugely important, but also the 40 percent of the people that have come here illegally with a legal visa and overstayed their bounds. We ought to be able to figure out where they are and politely ask them to leave.’ Politely ask them to leave? The phrasing won’t win him much support from law-and-order Republicans, but, Bush appeared to suggest that U.S. authorities track down and deport more than four million people out of the total 11-plus million who are in the country illegally.” [Washington Examiner, 1/27/15]
Jeb Bush: “We need to swiftly deport individuals who overstay their visas.” “We need to swiftly deport individuals who overstay their visas rather than allowing them to stay indefinitely or to pursue multiple appeals.” [Jeb Bush, Immigration Wars, pg. 49, 2/11/14]
Jeb Bush said he would undo Pres. Obama’s executive actions to expand DACA and DAPA. “Bush also said he would undo President Obama’s executive action on immigration. ‘The DACA and DAPA? Yes I would,’ he said.” [Tampa Bay Times, 4/21/15]
1994: Jeb Bush on how to deal with 4 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States: “Start deporting people.” “Q: There are something like 4 million illegals in the United States. … What would you do with the ones that are here? Mr. BUSH: Start deporting people. We have an asylum process. … It shouldn’t take five years” [Miami Herald, 7/3/94]
Chris Christie
Path to Citizenship
Chris Christie: “This path to citizenship stuff is garbage.” ”New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said on Tuesday the idea of granting undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship — one he supported in 2010 — ‘is garbage.’ Instead, the 2016 candidate said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, cracking down on businesses that hire immigrants who are here illegally is the best way to solve the problem. ‘I met lots of undocumented folks in my state over the course of my time as governor, I can tell you not one of them has ever said to me that they had come here to vote. This path to citizenship stuff is garbage,’ Christie said. ‘That’s not why they’re coming. They’re coming to work and support their family.’” [Talking Points Memo, 8/4/15]
Chris Christie said providing a pathway to citizenship was “an extreme way to go.” “Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) is rejecting the idea of providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants as ‘extreme,’ reversing his stance ahead of a likely bid for president. ‘That’s an extreme way to go,’ Christie said Monday night in an interview on Fox News’s ‘The Kelly File.’ ‘I don’t believe that’s the way to go and I don’t believe that’s where the American people are.’” [The Hill, 3/19/15]
Birthright Citizenship
Chris Christie: Birthright citizenship “may have made sense at some point in our history, right now, we need to relook at all that.” “Christie, speaking on Aug. 12—about a week before Trump’s proposal —was asked about birthright citizenship during a radio appearance with conservative host Laura Ingraham and said the matter deserves another look. ‘I think all this stuff needs to be reexamined in light of the current circumstances,’ New Jersey’s governor said. ‘The fact is the American immigration system is not working right now, it’s not working for the American people, it’s not working for our economy, and all these things need to be reexamined in light of the current circumstances. And while [birthright citizenship] may have made sense at some point in our history, right now, we need to relook at all that. And it has to be relooked at in respect to the rule of law.’” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]
Deportation
Chris Christie pledged to immediately repeal President Obama’s executive action to expand DACA and DAPA. KELLY: “Would your reverse President Obama’s executive action on illegal immigration?” CHRISTIE: “Yes.” KELLY: “Right away?” CHRISTIE: “Yeah, because I believe that it’s illegal.” [Fox News’ The Kelly File, 5/18/15]
Chris Christie suggested undocumented immigrants should be deported “if practical.” “MR. HANNITY: What about people that entered illegally? GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, you know, my view is, they need to get to the back of the line. MR. HANNITY: And maybe go back to where they — GOV. CHRISTIE: If practical. I mean, if practical. I mean, I don’t think that you’re going to be able to say, every person who’s in this country illegally is going to go back to their country of origin.” [Fox News’ Hannity, 6/30/10]
John Kasich
Path to Citizenship
John Kasich: “I’m not for giving anybody a path to citizenship here.” KASICH: “Well, I’m for legalization, Sean. I’m not for giving anybody a path to citizenship here.” HANNITY: “No citizenship?” KASICH: “No, I don’t believe in that.” [Fox News’ Hannity, 12/30/15]
Deportation
John Kasich refused to remove Ohio from a lawsuit blocking Pres. Obama’s executive orders to protect certain undocumented immigrants from deportation. “The lawsuit in question is blocking the president’s executive actions known as the Deferred Action or Parents of Americans (DAPA) program and the expanded version of his 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Together, the DAPA and DACA programs would have shielded upwards of 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and provided them with work authorization. Ohio joined the lawsuit in December 2014, a move that Kasich’s office has defended while insisting that it was Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s decision. Kasich told advocates that he would ‘make some phone calls,’ but that he wouldn’t agree to remove his state from the lawsuit because the president ‘should have tried to work harder with Congress,’ the immigrant advocacy group Ohio’s Voice reported in a press release.” [ThinkProgress, 7/29/15]
Rand Paul
Path to Citizenship
Rand Paul introduced an amendment to remove a pathway to citizenship from immigration reform. “Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced an amendment Thursday to the Senate immigration bill that would effectively strip the bill’s path to citizenship and require illegal immigrants to apply through regular channels. The ‘No New Pathway to Citizenship Act’ amendment would allow illegal immigrants to remain in the United States as Registered Provisional Immigrants — a new work visa category — but force them to apply as though they were still in their home country.” [Washington Post, 6/20/13]
Birthright Citizenship
Rand Paul introduced legislation to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. “In 2011, the Kentucky senator joined forces with Louisiana Senator David Vitter to introduce a resolution to ensure ‘a person born in the United States to illegal aliens does not automatically gain citizenship.’ ‘Citizenship is a privilege, and only those who respect our immigration laws should be allowed to enjoy its benefits,’ Paul said at the time. ‘This legislation makes it necessary that everyone follow the rules, and goes through the same process to become a U.S. citizen.’” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]
Deportations
Rand Paul filed a bill that would rescind deportation relief for undocumented immigrants under Pres. Obama’s expansion of DACA and DAPA. “U.S. Sen. Rand Paul has filed a bill that would rescind President Barack Obama’s executive order on immigration that effectively delays the deportation of about 4 million immigrants who don’t have the proper documentation to stay in the country. Many of those effected by Obama’s order came to the United States as children or are the parents or family members of U.S. citizens.” [Courier-Journal, 12/13/14; S. 3015, 12/12/14]