http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Hillary_Clinton_Immigration.htm
Introduce a path to earn citizenship in the first 100 days
I, as president, would work with our neighbors to the south, to help them create more jobs for their own people. We need to bring the immigrants out of the shadows, give them the conditions that we expect them to meet, paying a fine for coming here illegally, trying to pay back taxes, over time, and learning English. If they had committed a crime, then they should be deported. But for everyone else, there must be a path to legalization. I would introduce that in the first 100 days of my presidency.
Source: 2008 Democratic debate at University of Texas in Austin , Feb 21, 2008
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Border fence that cuts off a college campus is absurd
Q: As president, would you commit tonight that you would finish the fence and speed up the construction?
A: Both Obama and I voted for that as part of the immigration debate. There is a smart way to protect our borders, and there is a dumb way to protect our borders. What I learned is that the University of Texas at Brownsville would have part of its campus cut off. This is the kind of absurdity that we’re getting from this administration. I’ve been fighting with them about the northern border. Their imposition of passports and other kinds of burdens are separating people from families, interfering with business and commerce, the movement of goods and people. So what I’ve said is that I would say, wait a minute, we need to review this. There may be places where a physical barrier is appropriate. When both of us voted for this, we were voting for the possibility that where it was appropriate and made sense, it would be considered.
Source: 2008 Democratic debate at University of Texas in Austin , Feb 21, 2008
Deploy technology & personnel, not a border fence
Q: Do you think your vote on the border fence or the implementation of it was wrong?
A: There’s a lot we’ve learned about technology and smart fencing. There is technology that can be used instead of a physical barrier. It requires us having enough personnel along the border so that people can be supervising a certain limited amount of space and can be responsive in the event of people attempting to cross illegally. The way that the Bush administration is going about this, filing eminent domain actions against landowners and municipalities, makes no sense. After a careful review, listening to the people who live along the border, there may be limited places where it would work. But let’s deploy more technology and personnel, instead of the physical barrier. That will work better and will give us an opportunity to secure our borders without interfering with family relations, business relations, recreation and so much else that makes living along the border wonderful.
Source: 2008 Democratic debate at University of Texas in Austin , Feb 21, 2008
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Co-sponsored comprehensive immigration reform in 2004
Q: Were you missing in action when Obama and McCain and Kennedy started formulating comprehensive immigration reform?
A: I co-sponsored comprehensive immigration reform in 2004. So I’ve been on record on behalf of this for quite some time. Representing New York, the home of the Statue of Liberty, bringing all of our immigrants to our shores, has been not only an extraordinary privilege, but given me the opportunity to speak out on these issues. When the House passed the most mean-spirited provision that said, if you were to give any help whatsoever to someone here illegally, you would commit a crime, I stood up and said that would have criminalized the Good Samaritan and Jesus Christ himself. I have been on record on this against this kind of demagoguery, this mean-spiritedness. It is something that I take very personally, because I have not only worked on behalf of immigrants; I have been working to make conditions better for many years. But let’s do it in a practical, realistic approach.
Source: 2008 Democratic debate in Los Angeles before Super Tuesday , Jan 31, 2008
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mmigration reform needs family unification as one goal
Q: Would you commit to immigration reform during your first year of the presidency?
A: Absolutely. And I think there are three different aspects of this.
We do need to work with the Congress to get legislation that is comprehensive. I am proud to work with Sen. Menendez on trying to make sure that in the process of doing immigration reform, we don’t separate families, we try to have family unification as one of the goals. So in addition to giving people a path to legalization, we want to make sure their families can come along with them.
There does have to be an intensive effort with our friends to the south to see how the US can once again be a partner, with a relationship based on mutual respect, where we work together to find ways that we can help them address the needs of the people living in countries to the south.
Finally, we have to educate the American people about why immigration is as important today as it was when my family came through into Ellis Island.
Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate on Univision in Spanish , Sep 9, 2007
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