5/5/15 Friends and Allies Talking Points: Immigration

Immigration – Fact Sheet May 5, 2015 – Post Las Vegas Roundtable · Hillary Clinton made clear that we cannot wait any longer for comprehensive immigration reform. Any comprehensive proposal, she said, must include nothing less than a full and equal path to citizenship. We cannot settle for proposals that provide hard-working people with merely a "second- class" status, as some Republicans have proposed. · And unlike her Republican opponents who would roll back protections for DREAMers—exposing millions to risk of deportation— exposing millions of DREAMers to risk of deportation—Hillary Clinton will continue her longstanding record of standing with these young people, who have lived in the United States for most of their lives, by defending President Obama’s executive actions. · Speaking to DREAMers, Clinton made clear that if Congress refuses to act, as President she would do everything possible under the law to expand and enhance protections for families and communities hurt by our broken immigration system. · In addition, relying on existing law, Clinton would seek to create an accessible pathway for other sympathetic cases not covered by the President’s action—such as the parents of DREAMers—to apply for the same deferred action as other groups. Hillary Clinton is committed to fighting for comprehensive immigration reform. · In 2014, Hillary Clinton supported President Obama’s executive action on immigration reform, while noting congressional action was still needed to finish the job by passing comprehensive immigration reform  Hillary: “I support the President’s decision to begin fixing our broken immigration system and focus finite resources on deporting felons rather than families.”  In 2013, Hillary supported the bipartisan immigration reform bill that passed the Senate.  As Secretary of State, Hillary told the world that “we are committed to comprehensive immigration reform.”  Hillary was a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform as a Senator, cosponsoring Senator Ted Kennedy’s 2004 bill and supporting the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act in 2006 and 2007.

 Hillary Clinton stands with DREAMers and has consistently supported the Dream Act. · In 2003, 2005 and 2007, Hillary Clinton cosponsored the Dream Act in the Senate. · As Senator, Hillary said, “The DREAM Act ensures that the promise of the American Dream becomes a reality for all of our children,” and more recently emphasized her belief that DREAMers “have imbued the American dream in their genes.” · Hillary understands that, for DREAMers, “America is the only home they know,” and recently said that, on this issue, “at stake are stronger families, communities and economy. Parents & Dreamers shouldn’t live in fear.”  Hillary Clinton has shown longstanding, steadfast commitment to America’s immigrants throughout her career. · In 1972, Hillary helped register Latino voters in south Texas and the Rio Grande Valley while working on George McGovern’s presidential campaign. · Hillary received a grant for a summer during law school to work with Marian Wright Edelman and researched the deplorable conditions of migrant farmworkers, and the education and health of their children. She carried on this advocacy years later in the Senate, sponsoring a bill to increase access to healthcare for legal immigrant children and pregnant women. · Hillary’s commitment to America’s immigrants was evident as Secretary of State, where she called immigration a “source of our vitality and innovative spirit” and called for us to “work together to address these challenges” so that immigration could “continue to be an enormous advantage for the United States, one that bears directly and crucially on our economic and geopolitical prospects.”