The presidential candidates of the Democratic Party share a common conviction that the country badly needs comprehensive immigration reform that offers a path to legalization for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. The policy positions of the Democratic Party candidates—Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama—stand in sharp contrast to those offered by the Republican Party candidates, with the partial exception of John McCain.

The Democratic Party candidates all support a "path toward legalization" that includes certain conditions, including learning English and paying a fine. They also support border security measures such as increased Border Patrol, fencing, and technological surveillance and workplace enforcement.

The candidates differ on offering drivers' licences to illegal residents (Edwards and Obama support the measure and Clinton opposes it). They all agree on the need to combine workplace enforcement with legalization and labor rights. They have all criticized the rightwing rhetoric that demeans immigrants. On guestworker programs, Edwards opposes them unless they offer a path to citizenship, Clinton says they should "not exploit workers" and Obama states that the jobs must first be offered to U.S. citizens at a decent wage.

John Edwards on Immigration

• General Position:
• "Our values are violated when 12 million people live in the shadows of our society, vulnerable to abuse and fearful of deportation."
• "We should be proud of the fact that we've had so many workers come into this country who deserve a path to earn citizenship and who are working to support their families. They have made America richer, culturally more diverse, and they are performing jobs that, in some cases, would be difficult to find others to perform. They're an important part of our economy. We need to not just recognize the economic benefits of these workers, but understand in many cases they are being abused, they are being taken advantage of, their rights are not being protected. And it is enormously important that we have comprehensive immigration reform so that those who in fact are working 10 hours a day in 105-degree heat have the same sort of worker rights that other Americans have. They are no less human, and [have] no less value as human beings, and they deserve those same rights."
  
  
• Path to citizenship:
• Will provide for "an earned path to citizenship that requires English."
• "I support policies that welcome immigrants and protect our security, including an earned legalization program for those who work hard and play by the rules."
• "We should reform the immigration system so there is a clear road map to legalization and citizenship for undocumented immigrants who work hard and follow the law. At the same time, we should work with our ally, Mexico, to better control the border and stop illegal trafficking."
• Believes that "people who are already here should have the opportunity to earn American citizenship if they avoid a criminal record, pay a fine in recognition that they came here illegally, and learn English—the surest path to success in this country."
  
  
• Guestworker programs:
• "Opposes new temporary guestworker programs that do not provide adequate workplace protections and a reasonable path to citizenship."
  
  
• Driver's licenses:
• "We want people to be licensed if they're going to operate vehicles. If we have a path to citizenship, that anybody who's on that path to citizenship, undocumented, should have a right to have a driver's license. If they're not making an effort to become an American citizen, then I think they shouldn't have a driver's license."
• "It is not the job of the president to make that decision. That's for states to decide. I personally would not be in favor of that because I think we need to make this part of immigration reform."
  
  
• Family reunification:
• Supports removing the "barriers to family reunification."
  
  
• Employing undocumented immigrants:
• Edwards supports more vigorous workplace enforcement and increased fines for businesses that knowingly break the rules.
  
  
• Border Patrol:
• "Double the number of border patrol agents and invest in surveillance technology to police the borders."
• "I think that's what the focus should be on: more Border Patrol, better use of technology, and absolutely a path to earn citizenship for those who are living here and who are undocumented. But we also have to get at the underlying causes of the migration from Mexico, which means addressing the issues of poverty, education, health, the reason that so many are coming to the United States."
  
  
• Wages and immigrants:
• "The studies show there are a lot of things driving down wages. One of those things is the loss of good middle-class jobs, which has been accelerated under this administration. And I think there are a variety of things that are contributing to that. There are a whole range of things that we need to do if we actually want to save the middle class and strengthen the American economy."
  
  
• Raids on immigrants:
• "First of all, I [oppose] these raids, and particularly the way they are being conducted, separating parents from children. I think the bottom line is that we need to reform the laws for immigration in this country so that everybody has a real and meaningful path to citizenship."

Hillary Clinton on Immigration

• General Position:
• According to her website: "She believes comprehensive reform must have as essential ingredients a strengthening of our borders, greater cross-cooperation with our neighbors, strict but fair enforcement of our laws, federal assistance to our state and local governments, strict penalties for those who exploit undocumented workers, and a path to earned legal status for those who are here, working hard, paying taxes, respecting the law, and willing to meet a high bar."
• "I deeply regret the way the Republicans are politicizing this issue. They are trying to outdo each other in basically demeaning and attacking those who are here in our country—yes, without documentation—but who are often doing the work that allows raising their families and making a contribution. The answer is comprehensive immigration reform. We have to keep working toward it. Yes, we've got to have tougher border security. We do have to crack down on employers who exploit and employ undocumented people. We've got to do more to help local communities bear the costs of it. Because they don't set immigration laws. We've got to do more with our neighbors to the south to help them create more economic opportunity for their own people but at the end of the day there has to be an earned path to legalization."
• "I'm in favor of comprehensive immigration reform, which includes tightening our border security, sanctioning employers who employ undocumented immigrants, getting the 12 million or so immigrants out of the shadows. That's very important to me. After 9/11, we've got to know who's in this country. And then giving them a chance to pay a fine, pay back taxes, learn English, and stand in line to be eligible for a legal status in this country."
  
  
• Hiring undocumented workers:
• Insists that "employers comply with the law against hiring and exploiting undocumented workers.
  
  
• Guestworker program:
• According to the Clinton website: "She opposes a guestworker program that exploits workers and creates a supply of cheap labor that undermines the wages of U.S. workers. Hillary believes all workers deserve safe conditions and decent wages. She supports an Ag Jobs program, which will keep our agricultural industry vibrant while enabling agricultural workers to receive the fair wages and labor protections they ought to receive."
  
  
• Border security:
• "I do favor much more border patrolling and much more technology on both of our borders, and in certain areas, even a physical barrier, because I think we've got to secure our borders. That has to be part of comprehensive immigration reform. I have championed comprehensive immigration reform, and it includes starting with securing our borders in order to give people the support they need to come over and support us when it comes to having a pathway to legalization. We all know that this has become a contentious political issue. We want to work in a bipartisan way to have comprehensive reform—employer verification, more help for local communities so that they can pay for schooling and hospital and other expenses that they have to bear because of the immigration crisis."
• "It is obvious there is no more defining issue in our nation today than stopping illegal immigration. The most basic obligation of any government is to secure the nation's borders. One issue in which there appears to be a consensus between the Senate and the House is on the issue of building a secure fence. So rather than wait until comprehensive legislation is enacted, we should move forward on targeted legislation which is effective and meaningful."
  
  
• Driver's licenses:
• Opposes driver's licenses for illegal immigrants in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform.
• "What Gov. Spitzer is trying to do [with immigrant licenses] is fill the vacuum left by the failure to bring about comprehensive immigration reform. We have several million at any one time who are in New York illegally. They are undocumented workers. They are driving on our roads. The possibility of them having an accident that harms themselves or others is just a matter of probability. No state, no matter how well intentioned, can fill this gap. There needs to be federal action on immigration reform .... We want people to come out of the shadows. He's making an honest effort to do it. We should have passed immigration reform."
  
  
• Family reunification:
• "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 United States 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."
  
  
• Anti-immigration attitudes:
• "There are many in the political and the broadcast world today who take a particular aim at our Latino population. And I think it's very destructive. It undermines our unity as a country. There was a particularly egregious example of that in the House-passed bill last year. The House bill tried to criminalize anyone who helped an illegal immigrant, anyone who gave them medical care, any church that opened up to give them food at a dinner or breakfast. And I said that it would have criminalized the Good Samaritan. It would have criminalized Jesus Christ."
  
  
• Sanctuary cities:
• "Why do they have sanctuary cities? In large measure because if local law enforcement begins to act like immigration enforcement officers, you will have people not reporting crimes. You will have people hiding from the police. That is a real direct threat to the personal safety and security of all the citizens. So this is a result of the failure of the federal government, and that's where it needs to be fixed."
  
  
• English as "official" language:
• "If English becomes the official language, instead of recognized as national, that means in a place like New York City you can't print ballots in any other language. That means you can't have government pay for translators in hospitals so when somebody comes in with some sort of emergency there's nobody there to help translate what their problem is for the doctors. So many of us voted that English was our national language but not the official language because of the legal consequences of that."
  
  

Barack Obama on Immigration

• General Position:
• "What we have to do is create a comprehensive solution to the problem. As president I will make sure that we finally have the kind of border security that we need. Employers have to be held accountable. When we do those things, we can take the illegal aliens who are here, get them out of the shadows, make sure that they are subject to a stiff penalty, make sure that they're learning English, and go to the back of the line so they're not getting an advantage over people who came here legally."
• "We've got to fix a broken immigration system not just for the undocumented but for legal immigrants. Because the backlogs are horrendous, the fees have been increased and doubled and tripled, and as a consequence more and more people are having difficulty just trying to reunify their families even if they're going through the legal pathways, and that puts more pressure on people to go into the illegal system. That is something we're going to try to pass."
• I think it's possible for us to be a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. That's what we've always been and that's what we have to continue to be. And that's why I've worked in the Senate and will work hard as president to make sure that we've got comprehensive immigration reform that has strong border security. We need to make sure that it's orderly, that we don't have thousands of people pouring over our borders or overstaying our visas."
  
  
• Path to legalization:
• "We want to have a situation in which those who are already here, are playing by the rules, are willing to pay a fine, and go through a rigorous process should have a pathway to legalization. Most Americans will support that if they have some sense that the border is also being secured. What they don't want is a situation in which there is a pathway to legalization and you've got another several hundred thousand of folks coming in every year. That is a central position we should be able to arrive at."
  
  
• Employment:
• "I think that if they are illegal, then they should not be able to work in this country. That is part of the principle of comprehensive reform, which we're going to crack down on employers who are hiring them and taking advantage of them. But I also want to give them a pathway, so that they can earn citizenship, earn a legal status, start learning English, pay a significant fine, and go to the back of the line. But they can then stay here and they can have the ability to enforce a minimum wage that they're paid, make sure the worker safety laws are available, make sure that they can join a union."
• We have to make sure that employers are held accountable, because right now employers are taking advantage of undocumented workers. And we've got to give a pathway to citizenship. But people have to earn it. They're going to have to pay a fine. They've got to make sure that they're learning English. They've got to go to the back of the line so that they're not rewarded for having broken the law."
  
  
• Federal control over immigration:
• "We do not deputize the American people to do the job that the federal government is supposed to do. So as president, I will make sure that the federal government does what it's supposed to do, which is to do a better job of closing our borders, have much tougher enforcement standards when it comes to employers, and create a pathway of citizenship for the 12 million people who are already here."
• Voted YES on building a fence along the Mexican border.
  
  
• English as "official language"
• "Because there are Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens who may not speak English well, and if they're seeking help, for example, on some vital health care question, or a senior citizen who emigrated here a long time ago and they're trying to get their Social Security check, I don't want them to not be able to get those services."
  
  
• Guestworker programs
• "Before any guestworker is hired, the job must be made available to Americans at a decent wage with benefits. Employers then need to show that there are no Americans to take these jobs. I am not willing to take it on faith that there are jobs that Americans will not take. There has to be a showing. If this guestworker program is to succeed, it must be properly calibrated to make certain that these are jobs that cannot be filled by Americans, or that the guestworkers provide particular skills we can't find in this country."
  
  
• Driver's licenses:
• There is a public safety concern [with denying driver's licenses to illegal immigrants]. We can make sure that drivers who are illegal come out of the shadows, that they can be tracked, that they are properly trained, and that will make our roads safer. That doesn't negate the need for us to reform illegal immigration."
• When I was a state senator in Illinois, I voted to require that illegal aliens get trained, get a license, get insurance to protect public safety. That was my intention. The problem we have here is not driver's licenses. Undocumented workers do not come here to drive. They're here to work. Instead of being distracted by what has now become a wedge issue, let's focus on actually solving the problem that this administration, the Bush administration, had done nothing about it."
  
  
• The Senate Immigration Bill:
• Senator Obama played a role in drafting the Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill that the Senate passed before the 109th Congress adjourned. The bill, which President Bush supports, would provide more funds and technology for border security and prevent employers from skirting our laws by hiring illegal immigrants. The bill also would provide immigrants who are now contributing, responsible members of society an opportunity to remain in the country and earn citizenship. But not all illegal immigrants would be guaranteed the right to remain in the U.S. under this proposal: they would first have to pay a substantial fine and back taxes, learn English, satisfy a work requirement, and pass a criminal background check.
• Obama offered three amendments that were included in the Senate bill. The first amendment would strengthen the requirement that a job be offered at a prevailing wage to American workers before it is offered to a guestworker. The second amendment would make it simple, but mandatory, for employers to verify that their employees are legally eligible to work in the United States. And the third amendment would authorize $3 million a year for the FBI to improve the speed and accuracy of the background checks required for immigrants seeking to become citizens.

Sources

Sources for Barack Obama:

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