FLASHBACK: Top Democrats tout deportations, tough immigration policies

Yahoo

30-01-2025

Top Democrats have touted deporting illegal immigrants and taken strong stances against immigrants entering the U.S. illegally for years, proposing harsh penalties and more, while President Donald Trump's current deportation efforts are now being panned by Democrats and members of the press.
Former President Bill Clinton addressed illegal immigration during his State of the Union address in 1995, using the term "illegal alien."
"All Americans, not only in the states most heavily affected but in every place in this country, are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country," Clinton said during the address. "The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public service they use imposes burdens on our taxpayers. That's why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens."
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He promised to speed up the deportation of illegal immigrants who were arrested for crimes and "to better identify illegal aliens in the workplace."
"We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it," Clinton said.
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The immigration policies signed into law by Clinton in 1996 were panned by journalist Aarti Shahani, in a piece for the Atlantic in 2019. Shahani pointed to multiple bills signed by Clinton, including the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA).
The IIRAIRA allowed for immigrants who also commit misdemeanors to be deported and in general, according to Shahani, "injected" the toughest parts of the U.S. criminal justice system into the immigration system.
Under former President Barack Obama, who has been referred to as the "deporter in chief" by immigration groups, over 2.5 million immigrants were removed from the country between 2009 and 2015, according to ABC News.
Obama announced executive orders in November 2014 that were aimed at limiting illegal immigration and deporting criminal immigrants, echoing parts of Clinton's remarks from 1995.
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"Even as we are a nation of immigrants, we're also a nation of laws. Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and I believe that they must be held accountable -– especially those who may be dangerous. That's why, over the past six years, deportations of criminals are up 80 percent. And that's why we're going to keep focusing enforcement resources on actual threats to our security. Felons, not families. Criminals, not children. Gang members, not a mom who's working hard to provide for her kids. We'll prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day," he said.
The former president set certain parameters for illegal immigrants, through executive order, that would not be a focus of his administration's deportation efforts, and encouraged those who met the criteria to "get right with the law."
"What I'm describing is accountability –- a common-sense, middle-ground approach: If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. If you're a criminal, you'll be deported. If you plan to enter the U.S. illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up," Obama said at the time.
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Obama did say that mass deportations were not feasible during the speech, adding, "Tracking down, rounding up, and deporting millions of people isn't realistic."
Hillary Clinton, who was a senator for New York at the time, spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2006 about immigration, and notably argued for "tougher employer sanctions," physical barriers and increased security.
She also said the U.S. needed to "incentivize Mexico to do more," and allow their citizens to have a future in their own country.
Clinton, while running for president in 2007, came out in favor of strengthening border security and stopping illegal border crossings.
"You've got to give them some sanctions, penalties, fines, but bring them out so we can know who's here," she said. "I want to know who's in this country, I want to keep track of them. So bring them out of the shadows, if they evert committed a crime, either in the country they've came from or in this country, deport them immediately no questions asked."
She went on to say immigrants who had been lawful needed to pay back taxes and learn English before adding that as long as they were law-abiding, in 10 or 15 years, they could be granted legal status.
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Clinton backed "tough conditions" for immigrants who come to the U.S. illegally during a 2008 appearance.
"If they've been working and are law-abiding, we should say, 'Here are the conditions for you staying. You have to pay a stiff fine because you came here illegally. You have to pay back taxes and you have to try to learn English. And you have to wait in line,'" she said.
Clinton attempted to differentiate herself from Obama's immigration efforts during a March 2016 Democratic presidential debate.
"But if you are asking about everyone who is already here, undocumented immigrants, the 11-12 million who are living here, my priorities are to deport violent criminals, terrorists, and anyone who threatens our safety. So I do not have the same policy as the current administration does. I think it's important that we move to our comprehensive immigration reform, but at the same time, stop the raids, stop the round-ups, stop the deporting of people who are living here doing their lives, doing their jobs, and that's my priority," she said.
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Former President Joe Biden, whose administration oversaw a record number of border crossings, also expressed support for jailing employers who hire illegal immigrants, as reported by CNN's K-File in 2019.
"We've got to get tougher with employers. In fact, the person we should send to jail is not the illegals, we send to jail the employers," Biden said during a 2007 campaign event. "If you knowingly hire an illegal alien, then you should be held accountable. Because let me tell you, the next person I hear tell me that my labor guys aren't willing to work hard, that's why you have illegals putting up sheetrock, then I want to tell you, you don't know my guys."
Biden's administration discouraged use of the term "illegal alien" once he took office in 2021.
The then-Delaware senator was also asked about sanctuary city laws during a Democratic presidential debate in 2007.
Biden was asked, "Yes or no, would you allow the cities to ignore the federal law?"
He replied, "No."Original article source: FLASHBACK: Top Democrats tout deportations, tough immigration policies