Presidential Candidates Position on Immigration

The following is a survey of the leading Presidential candidates' position on immigration, as expressed in their websites.

Hillary Clinton:

If Congress continues its refusal to act on comprehensive immigration reform, Hillary has a plan to act—and do everything possible under the law to protect families.
We need comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to full and equal citizenship.
Immigration enforcement must be humane and targeted—and she’ll end family detention and close private detention centers.

Bernie Sanders:

Dismantle inhumane deportation programs and detention centers.
Pave the way for a swift and fair legislative roadmap to citizenship for the eleven million undocumented immigrants.
Ensure our border remains secure while respecting local communities.
Regulate the future flow of immigrants by modernizing the visa system and rewriting bad trade agreements.
Enhance access to justice and reverse the criminalization of immigrants.
Establish parameters for independent oversight of key U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies.

Donald Trump:

Ted Cruz:

Build a wall that works.
Triple the number of Border Patrol agents.
Finish the biometric tracking system at our nation’s ports of entry.
End President Obama’s current immigration programs
End sanctuary policies.
Prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving financial benefits and strengthen E-Verify.
Suspend the issuance of all H-1B visas for 180 days to complete a comprehensive investigation and audit.
Halt any increases in legal immigration so long as American unemployment remains unacceptably high.
Enforce the public-charge doctrine.
End birthright citizenship.

Marco Rubio:

The first step must be enforcement measures that are effective and verifiable. Such measures would include securing the most vulnerable and most trafficked sectors of the southern border, mandatory E-Verify and the full implementation of an entry-exit tracking system.
The second step is to modernize our legal immigration system toward a merit-based one. That would mean reassigning existing visas away from family-based immigration and toward work- and skill-based immigration, passing reforms for high-tech visas, as well as creating a limited guest worker program for seasonal workers in the agricultural sector to reduce the incentive for these workers to come here illegally in the future.