NBC News
By Griselda Nevarez
August 13, 2015
Before
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump grabbed the spotlight on
immigration, it was advocates and young Dreamers who were forcing the
issue to the forefront
of the 2016 presidential election.
A
presidential candidate could expect to be interrupted in a speech with
questions from pro-immigration reform advocates about why they want to
deport a young person's
mother or be confronted at a restaurant about taking away the
quasi-legal status President Barack Obama had given them.
But
the cameras and attention are now trained on Trump, who shifted the
discussion on immigration to the right with incendiary and, to many,
bigoted remarks about Mexicans
and immigrants. Now, the discussion has taken on a greater enforcement
tone than it had when immigration advocates were pressuring candidates
to state their views on Obama's immigration executive orders.
Pushed
to the sidelines, advocates huddled in Las Vegas this week to define
their national strategy on immigration. More than 250 immigration
advocates, allies and policy
experts from 25 states and Washington, D.C., convened for the
conference held Monday through Wednesday.
Lupe
Lopez, executive director of the Alliance for Citizenship, said even
though she doesn't think Trump has the upper hand on immigration, she
acknowledged he has taken
much of the spotlight and influenced other Republican presidential
candidates to steer more to the right on immigration.
"What
we're finding out right now is that the agenda of the Republicans is an
agenda that is anti-immigrant," Lopez said. "They're not talking about a
path to citizenship,
and they're questioning whether they should even support legalization."
Advocates
said they will continue pressing presidential candidates from both
parties on Obama's executive action that offers a deportation reprieve
and work permits to
millions of undocumented immigrants. (The offer is stalled by a court
battle) They also want to know if White House hopefuls support
immigration reform with a path to citizenship for undocumented
immigrants.
They will continue going to public events where candidates are scheduled to appear and ask pointed questions about immigration.
One
difference in strategy: immigration advocates plan to join forces with
other movements, including #BlackLivesMatter, to build power and
increase the number of allies
pressuring candidates on various social justice issues, not just
immigration.
"We
are committed to reaching out to our partners in other movements to see
how we can work together to defend and to promote our issues in a
collective way," Lopez said.
On
the Republican side of the presidential race, immigration advocates
said they're worried that Donald Trump has been leading the narrative on
immigration. The real estate
mogul has said he wants to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border
and deport millions of people living in the U.S. illegally, then get
them to reapply to return.
When
he declared his presidential bid in June, Trump said Mexico is sending
people who "have lots of problems" and who are rapists and criminals. He
has doubled down on
those comments ever since.
Ben
Monterroso, executive director of Mi Familia Vota, said he has yet to
see other Republican presidential candidates take a tough enough stance
against Trump's controversial
comments about immigrants.
By
not condemning Trump's comments, Monterroso said Republican
presidential candidates are allowing the anti-immigrant side of the
country "to come forward and start attacking
our community."
"That is totally irresponsible and unacceptable," he said.
Kica
Matos, director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the Center
for Community Change, said she is "appalled and disgusted" by what Trump
has said on immigration.
But she's also disappointed to see other Republican presidential
candidates repeating the same immigration rhetoric, which she said may
play well during the primaries but not in the general election.
"There's
been very little laid out by way of substance other than the old and
tired arguments about a need to secure the border, which has never been
safer," Matos said,
adding that illegal border-crossings are at net zero.
Ted
Cruz, one of the GOP presidential candidates, has argued otherwise. The
Texas senator who's running for president has stated multiple times
that the border is not
secure. Last year, he pointed to the tens of thousands of unaccompanied
minors who came from Central American as a sign that the border is not
secure.
Jeb
Bush, former Florida governor, has said he supports a path to legal
status—not citizenship—for undocumented immigrants. Earlier this month,
he released a six-point
immigration proposal in which he stated that "any plan to address the
status of illegal immigrants must be accompanied by a robust strategy to
improve border security."
At
his town hall in Nevada Wednesday, chants from #BlackLivesMatter
activists forced Bush to end the event without closing remarks. But
before he did, he was was booed
when he said he supports legal status but not a pathway to citizenship for immigrants here illegally. He also said he would like to narrow
which family members can legally join relatives already in the U.S. with citizenship and permanent legal residency.
Among
Democratic presidential candidates, all three leading candidates have
said they support a path to citizenship. Former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said she
would "go even further" to try to shield millions from deportation than
Obama wants to do with his executive action.
Sen.
Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent running as a Democrat, has said
the path to citizenship should be reasonable and has called for "humane
and sensible" immigration
policies that keep families together.
Meanwhile,
former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has been at the forefront
denouncing the Obama administration's push to keep asylum-seeking women
and children—many of
them from Central America—detained despite a judge's order to release
them.
Immigration
advocates said they like what they hear from Democratic presidential
candidates, but added that they want the candidates to be clear on how
they're going to
pass immigration reform legislation.
"We
don't want broad strokes. We want the details," said Angelica Salas,
executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los
Angeles (CHIRLA). "We want
to know exactly how they're going to get immigration reform across the
finish line."
That
of course, may depend on whether immigration advocates and others can
get allies who support their view elected in competitive congressional
races next year to at
least whittle at the Republican majorities in Congress.
During
the 2014 midterms, some immigration advocates either were critical of
Democrats who supported their view and made suggestions that Latino
voters stay home in response
to Obama's decision to delay implementing deportation relief by
executive action.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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