Grayson voted against House Amendment 136 - Prohibits the Enforcement of the Immigration Executive Order. The amendment was adopted by the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 224 - 201. The purpose of the amendment as stated on the official text is to "prohibit the use of funds to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce the Morton Memos." These memos would have granted administrative amnesty to certain illegal aliens residing in the United States. The vote largely followed party lines.
Ron DeSantis (R): No. Considers DACA unconstitutional. Opposes any path to citizenship.
Andrew Gillum (D): Yes. Can protect national security & "have a secure border without criminalizing" undocumented people. Let them get alternative ID drivers' licenses. Continue in-state tuition.
Ron DeSantis (R): No. Considers DACA unconstitutional. Opposes any path to citizenship. DACA "amnesty" would further incentivize illegal immigration & chain migration. Fire officials who abet sanctuary cities.
Andrew Gillum (D): Yes. Can protect national security "without criminalizing" undocumented people.
DeSantis fully backs President Donald Trump's moves to enforce border security and deport illegal immigrants. As governor, DeSantis has promised to ban "sanctuary cities" even though virtually no city in Florida has such policies.
One of Gillum's campaign ads called for abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, but he would have no power to enact such a policy as governor.
Gillum slammed Trump's move to restrict federal grants to sanctuary cities in January 2017, saying it was "inconsistent with our highest values" and "we can protect our national security interests and have a secure border without criminalizing people who are here undocumented."
Alachua and Clay counties have been accused of being sanctuary areas for not complying with detention requests in some instances, but those claims are disputed as well.
DeSantis also wants to enact an E-Verify law requiring employers to check the immigration status of their workers. It's an idea Gov. Rick Scott pushed in his first year in office but quickly dropped when it failed to get through the Legislature.
A: Strongly Support--As Governor, Andrew will continue to fight mass deportation policies that threaten to split families and hurt Florida's economy.
A: A pathway should be made available for some illegal aliens, but definitely not all. Because past administrations and congresses failed to take any positive or proactive actions, this problem has become an emotional quagmire that no one really wants to work on to solve. The hard reality is that some of the solutions won't be pleasant for everyone and it is going to take time and effort to sort through the mess.
Next, since about 40% of the illegal immigrants in the US come here legally then remain once their visas expire, we need a much better system for tracking visa overstays. America also needs a much more effective and efficient employment verification system so that companies can have confidence the people they hire are legally entitled to work and that large corporations aren't abusing the system. Likewise, we must reform guest worker programs to make sure that American workers aren't being displaced in the process of companies meeting legitimate worker shortages.
Bottom line--it is very easy to come to America illegally, and very hard to come to America legally. That should be reversed. We need a high wall with a wide gate.
In the Florida Legislature, I've worked across the aisle to get progressive priorities signed into law in a contentious political environment--including bills to allow DREAMers to pay in-state tuition at our public universities and to be admitted to the Florida Bar. Donald Trump wants to deport our DREAMers--I want them to contribute their talents and keep America great. In Congress, I'm going to fight for comprehensive immigration reform starting on Day One.
Matt knows that the first steps in immigration reform are securing the border and enforcing our laws. He supports building a wall and will work to crack down on sanctuary cities & the local officials that allow them to exist.
Trump called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." [Trump later identified seven particular countries for the immigration ban, and the Supreme Court added additional rules for vetting instead of a ban.]
The 2010 Arizona law allows police to verify immigration status during other police stops. Lopez-Cantera said about the AZ bill in 2010, "I am concerned that this could jeopardize civil liberties."
In 2011, legislators introduced the Florida Immigration Enforcement Act--not identical to Arizona's law, but for immigrant advocates the legislation raised fears that it would increase racial profiling. Lopez-Cantera said, "This common sense legislation is designed to preserve employment opportunities through the use of the E-Verify system." Lopez-Cantera didn't vote on the bill.
He did voice support; he did call it common sense. But the Democrats cherry-picked one statement Lopez-Cantera made in favor of the bill while ignoring multiple statements he made opposing it. We rate the claim Mostly False.
We also have to reform our visa system. Nearly half of all the people living in our country illegally have overstayed their visas. It is unacceptable for a great nation like ours to be incapable of tracking visa holders.
Our immigration system also requires an expanded guest worker program to help fill the jobs Americans do not want (especially in agriculture), and an earned path to legalization for the undocumented who have abided by our laws and contributed to our economy.
A fair solution is also warranted for those who were brought to the country by their parents as minors. These children should not be judged by the actions of their parents.
Scott's decision to back the legislation is a sharp turn from 2010, when as a candidate for governor he promised to pass tougher immigration laws. He made comments blaming immigrants for costing the state "countless billions" and taking jobs from U.S. residents. Just last year Scott vetoed a bill would have allowed some young immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally to apply for a temporary driver's license.
Scott for the last two years has opposed tuition hikes, saying they were putting the price of college out of reach for students.
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration law by state and local police?
A: Yes. Washington has failed to lead on this issue. The first thing we must do is secure the borders. The technology and infrastructure exists to do so. The second thing we must do is issue an ID card for all non-US citizens presently in the US. We need to create a workable guest worker program that will allow migrant workers to go back and forth from their home countries to the United States without hassle. They would pay taxes into the general fund but not receive any benefits. Finally, we need to streamline the path to citizenship.
Carmona said, "I think it's a political calculation--that they recognized they cannot win their races and stay in office unless they embrace the Hispanic community."
The original DREAM Act would grant young people who were brought illegally to the US as children a path to citizenship provided that they attend college or serve in the military. Rubio's plan would provide not a path to citizenship but rather non-immigrant visas.
Rubio's spokesman said the proposal is a genuine effort to craft a bipartisan solution when it comes to the legal status of young undocumented immigrants. "Senator Rubio is working in good faith on legislation that can win bipartisan support and help undocumented kids who want to join the military or pursue higher education."
GINGRICH: I actually agree that self-deportation will occur if you're single. I would just suggest that grandmothers or grandfathers aren't likely to self-deport.
ROMNEY: Those who come into the country legally would be given an identification card, and if employers hire someone without a card, then those employers would be severely sanctioned. If you do that, people who have come here illegally won't be able to find work. And over time, those people would tend to leave the country, or self-deport. I don't think anyone is interested in going around and rounding up people around the country and deporting 11 million illegal immigrants into America. Let's focus our attention on how to make legal immigration work and stop illegal immigration.
ROMNEY: [to Gingrich]: Did you say that?
GINGRICH: No. What I said was, we want everybody to learn English. I didn't use the word "Spanish." We do not want anyone trapped in a situation where they cannot get a job, they cannot rise. And that's why I think English should be the official language of government, and that's why I think every young American should learn English.
ROMNEY: I think our position on English in our schools and in our nation is the same, which I believe English should be the official language of the United States. I also believe that in our schools, we should teach kids in English. I fought for a program to have English immersion in our schools so our kids could learn in English. I think we agree on this: Kids in this country should learn English so they can have all the jobs and all the opportunity of people who are here.
GINGRICH: First of all, you should control the border, which I have pledged to do by January 1, 2014. You should also make deportation easier so when you deport people who shouldn't be here. I actually agree that self-deportation will occur if you're single. If you've only been here a short time. And there are millions of people who faced with that, would go back home, file for a guest worker program and might or might not come back. People who have been here a very long time who are married, who may well have children and grandchildren. And I would just suggest that grandmothers or grandfathers aren't likely to self-deport. I offered a proposal, a citizen panel to review whether or not somebody who had been here a very long time, who had family and who had an American family willing to sponsor them, should be allowed to get residency, but not citizenship.
ROMNEY: [to Gingrich]: Did you say that?
GINGRICH: No. What I said was, we want everybody to learn English. I didn't use the word "Spanish." We do not want anyone trapped in a situation where they cannot get a job, they cannot rise.
Q: Governor, that ad quoted you as saying that Speaker Gingrich called Spanish "the language of the ghetto"--we just double- checked.
ROMNEY: Let me ask the speaker a question. Did you say what the ad says or not?
GINGRICH: It's taken totally out of context.
ROMNEY: Oh, OK, he said it.
GINGRICH: No. I did not say it about Spanish. I said, in general, about all languages. We are better for children to learn English in general, period.
SANTORUM: I actually agree with Governor Romney. The bottom line is that we need to enforce the laws in this country. We are a country of laws. My grandfather came to this country because he wanted to come to a country that respected him. And a country that respects you is a country that lives by the laws that they have. And the first act when they come to this country, is to disobey a law, it's not a particularly welcome way to enter this country. We have to have a country that not only do you respect the law when you come here, but you respect the law when you stay here. And people who have come to this country illegally have broken the law repeatedly. If you're here, unless you're here on a trust fund, you've been working illegally.
A: No.
Q: Do you support decreasing the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country?
A: No.
Q: Do you support establishing English as the official national language?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police?
A: Yes.
Answer: SUPPORT
CRIST: I don't think so. We probably agree on this issue. The first thing we need to realize about immigration reform is to make sure that we seal the border. Everything else is an academic conversation unless and until we do that. Second, we need to make sure that we're enforcing the law. Laws on the books don't mean anything if they're not being enforced. And third, those who are already her shouldn't be advantaged by the fact that they got here illegally. They should go to the back of the line, go through the regular process, what the law requires, in order to attain their citizenship.
Q: The immigration reform plan of 2007--you still think those are pretty good ideas?
CRIST: I don't think they're bad ideas. I think that those three principles, though, need to be underscored--protecting the border; enforcing the law that's on the books; and no advantages.
RUBIO: The only place those bills ever got a hearing was on the floor of the House, and they didn't advance because the Senate didn't want to advance them. Gov. Crist didn't have an interest in them as well.
CRIST: I had an interest in them. How can you say what my interest was?
RUBIO: Well, I never saw you speak out.
Q: But you didn't bring several of these bills to the floor?
RUBIO: Well, they never go out of their committees.
Q: Some critics say you could have done more.
RUBIO: Well, we gave it a hearing. The support wasn't there among the membership at the time, & they were focused at that time on some very serious challenges in a 60-day session.
Having a legal immigration system that works begins with border security. That's not enough; about 1/3 of the folks in this country illegally enter legally & they overstay visas. So we've got to deal with that issue as well.
We've got to deal with the employment aspect of it, because the vast majority of people who enter thi country illegally do so in search of jobs, and jobs are being provided to them. So we need some level of verification system so that employers are required to verify the employment status of their folks.
As far as amnesty, that's where the governor and I disagree. He would have voted for the McCain plan. I think that plan is wrong. If you grant amnesty, in any form, whether it's back of the line or so forth, you will destroy any chance we will ever have of having a legal immigration system that works.
A: Well, of course, this was developed in the 1960s, because the longest dictatorship, I believe, in the modern world, is the one of Fidel Castro. The presumption is that if you’re fleeing Fidel Castro, given decades and decades of murder, oppression--including, most recently, the way he cracked down on Brothers to the Rescue, all of these things--there’s a presumption in the immigration law that if you’re fleeing Fidel Castro, you’re fleeing political persecution. In every other situation, you have to prove it. If you can prove that you’re fleeing political persecution, you’ll be accepted. We’ve had this exception now for, what, for 40 years? And I think it’s a fair one, given the history of Castro, which is a pretty unusual one. And he is the longest-standing dictator, certainly in this hemisphere, I believe in the world.
A: Yes, I pledge that. A nation that cannot and will not defend its own borders will not forever remain a sovereign nation. And it’s unfair.
A: Yes, of course, and we never proposed amnesty. But then you’ve still got two other aspects of this issue that have to be resolved as well. We need to sit down as Americans and recognize these are God’s children as well. And they need some protection under the law; they need some of our love and compassion. I want to assure you that I’ll enforce the borders first. We’ll solve this immigration problem.
A: Let me tell you what I did as governor. I said no to driver’s licenses for illegals. I said, number two, we’re going to make sure that those that come here don’t get a tuition break in our schools, which I disagree with other folks on that one. Number three, I applied to have our state police enforce the immigration laws in May, seven months before I was out of office.
A: The federal policies weren’t working, stopping people coming into the United States. If I were president of the United States, I could do something about that by deploying a fence, by deploying a virtual fence, by having a BorderStat system like my COMSTAT system that brought down crime in New York, and just stopping people from coming in, and then having a tamper-proof ID card.
A: I’m not going to aid any more immigration into this country. I reject the idea, categorically, that there are jobs that, quote, “No American will take.” But am I going to feel sorry if a business has to increase its wages in order for somebody in this country to make a good living? No, I don’t feel sorry about that and I won’t apologize for it for a moment. And there are plenty of Americans who will do those jobs.
GIULIANI: New York City had a policy of allowing people who are illegal immigrants to report crime and to put their children in school. Otherwise, we reported every single illegal immigrant that committed a crime. The results were pretty darn good. I brought down crime by over 60%. I brought down homicide by 67%. I had the most legal city in the country. And I took the crime capital of America and I turned it into the safest large city in the country. The senator has never had executive responsibility. He’s never had the weight of people’s safety and security on his shoulders. I have. And I think I out-performed any expectations.
GIULIANI: New York City had a policy of allowing people who are illegal immigrants to report crime and to put their children in school. Otherwise, we reported every single illegal immigrant that committed a crime. The results were pretty darn good. I brought down crime by over 60%. I brought down homicide by 67%. I had the most legal city in the country. And I took the crime capital of America and I turned it into the safest large city in the country. The senator has never had executive responsibility. He’s never had the weight of people’s safety and security on his shoulders. I have. And I think I out-performed any expectations.
CASTOR: America is a nation of immigrants, and we should be open to those who come here legally to pursue their dreams. I would expedite citizenship for legal immigrants who are serving on active duty in the military. We need to make the system of asylum fair and equitable for unique groups like Haitians and Cubans, who are escaping repressive regimes. We must also ensure our borders are secure. Border security is no longer just an issue of immigration, it’s crucial to our fight against terror.
MARTINEZ: Our immigration policy should first and foremost ensure the security of our nation and those individuals posing a terrorist threat should be prevented from entering our country. I strongly oppose amnesty for illegal aliens.
CASTOR: America is a nation of immigrants, and we should be open to those who come here legally to pursue their dreams. I would expedite citizenship for legal immigrants who are serving on active duty in the military. We need to make the system of asylum fair and equitable for unique groups like Haitians and Cubans, who are escaping repressive regimes. We must also ensure our borders are secure. Border security is no longer just an issue of immigration, it’s crucial to our fight against terror.
MARTINEZ: Our immigration policy should first and foremost ensure the security of our nation and those individuals posing a terrorist threat should be prevented from entering our country. I strongly oppose amnesty for illegal aliens.
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| 2020 Presidential contenders on Immigration: | |||
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Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO) V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE) Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC) Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT) Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN) Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ) Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX) Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI) Rep.John Delaney (D-MD) Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA) Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT) CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA) Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) Marianne Williamson (D-CA) CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY) 2020 Third Party Candidates: Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI) CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV) Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI) Howie Hawkins (G-NY) Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN) |
Republicans running for President:
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN) Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY) Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL) Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY) 2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates: Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA) Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC) Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK) Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA) Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO) Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA) Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL) Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA) Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX) Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA) Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA) Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA) | ||
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