All defend the elimination of Trump’s restrictions, but remain silent about his active response against the illegal arrival
Democratic candidates who start the race to the White House on Monday with the Iowa primaries show some consensus on their promises to override the Trump-era immigration restrictions, but remain silent about their plans to stop illegal arrivals, according to a balance of their positions made by the organization Society and Council of the Americas.
One of the main favorites for the final nomination, former US Vice President Joe Biden, is an example. Biden has promised to end the Trump Administration’s Migration Protection Protocols policy, also known as the “Stay in Mexico” program, which requires asylum seekers to wait for their judicial appointments on Mexican soil.
In addition, it has also promised to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and review the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) programs. All with the ultimate goal of creating “a path to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants.
In a promise he shares with other candidates, Biden also wants to multiply the annual annual refugee admission limit to 125,000 – seven times more than the 18,000 that will be admitted this year -: a little above the 110,000 limit reached by his superior in office, the then president of the United States, Barack Obama.
However, and like many other candidates, Biden remains mute or uncertain when it comes to establishing a specific policy to prevent illegal arrivals to the country, represented in the physical wall that exists on the border with Mexico.
His main rival right now, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, also advocates the end of the Stay in Mexico program and the immigration agreements signed by Trump with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to block the arrival of refugees.
Sanders’ program has an internationalist and integrative character, by proposing a hemispheric summit with the leaders of the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico to attack the roots of forced displacement.
The senator, considered a “radical” among the ranks of the party, has also pledged to temporarily paralyze all deportations and decriminalize border crossings. Like Biden, it also bets on the preservation of DACA to ensure that 85 percent of undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked in the United States for at least five years can remain without the threat of deportation.
Also the third in discord, Senator Elizabeth Warren, has put the end of Trump’s programs and the re-establishment of DACA on the table. In fact, it has proposed to increase the number of young immigrants who could qualify for this program by extending the deadline for their enrollment and eliminating the age limit.
Like Sanders, Warren agrees to accept up to 125,000 refugees within his first year as president and then increase that number to 175,000 by the end of his first term. Like Biden, the senator also proposes financial aid to the Northern Triangle countries. The former vice president says he would commit about 4 billion dollars, for 1,500 by the senator.
The rest of the candidates, farther from the head, maintain the same premises. Former Mayor of South Bend (Indiana) Pete Buttigieg maintains the same three pillars as his contenders: elimination of the Trump program, restoration of DACA and agreements with Latin America, with a special emphasis on helping to combat gender violence and trafficking of people.
