Presidential Candidates Position on Immigration

The following is a survey of the leading Presidential candidates' position on immigration, as expressed in their websites. 

Hillary Clinton:  

• If Congress continues its refusal to act on comprehensive immigration reform, Hillary has a plan to act—and do everything possible under the law to protect families.
• We need comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to full and equal citizenship.
• Immigration enforcement must be humane and targeted—and she’ll end family detention and close private detention centers.

Bernie Sanders:

• Dismantle inhumane deportation programs and detention centers. 
• Pave the way for a swift and fair legislative roadmap to citizenship for the eleven million undocumented immigrants. 
• Ensure our border remains secure while respecting local communities. 
• Regulate the future flow of immigrants by modernizing the visa system and rewriting bad trade agreements. 
• Enhance access to justice and reverse the criminalization of immigrants. 
• Establish parameters for independent oversight of key U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies.

Donald Trump:

• There must be a wall across the southern border. Mexico Must pay for the wall.
• Triple the number of ICE officers.
• Nationwide e-verify.
• Mandatory return of all criminal aliens. 
• Defund sanctuary cities. 
• Enhanced penalties for overstaying a visa. 
• Cooperate with local gang task forces.
• End birthright citizenship. 
• Put American workers first
• Increase prevailing wage for H-1Bs. 
• Requirement to hire American workers first. 

Ted Cruz:

• Build a wall that works. 
• Triple the number of Border Patrol agents. 
• Finish the biometric tracking system at our nation’s ports of entry.
• End President Obama’s current immigration programs 
• End sanctuary policies.  
• Prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving financial benefits and strengthen E-Verify.
• Suspend the issuance of all H-1B visas for 180 days to complete a comprehensive investigation and audit.
• Halt any increases in legal immigration so long as American unemployment remains unacceptably high.
• Enforce the public-charge doctrine.
• End birthright citizenship. 

Marco Rubio:

• The first step must be enforcement measures that are effective and verifiable. Such measures would include securing the most vulnerable and most trafficked sectors of the southern border, mandatory E-Verify and the full implementation of an entry-exit tracking system.
• The second step is to modernize our legal immigration system toward a merit-based one. That would mean reassigning existing visas away from family-based immigration and toward work- and skill-based immigration, passing reforms for high-tech visas, as well as creating a limited guest worker program for seasonal workers in the agricultural sector to reduce the incentive for these workers to come here illegally in the future.