Immigration
and the 2016 Election
There are Two Major Sides to the Issue:
Immigration is a significant topic being discussed for the 2016 Presidential Election. Immigration reform could affect the lives of millions of people in America, whether they are immigrants or not. With so many people entering the US, many illegally, this is such a big issue because the two opposite viewpoints are so different that it is hard to appease both sides. Some people think that everyone, including immigrants, should have the same rights and opportunities in the US. Others feel that immigrants are a threat to the US and are taking away our jobs. There is much debate in the election season over how immigrants should be dealt with and treated.
Republican Viewpoints
For the most part, Republicans do not want immigrants to continue to come and live in the US, for security and economic reasons. Republican House Representatives plan to allow police to enforce immigration laws more, and to stop policies that appeal to people who are trying to immigrate to America. Donald Trump says he will make sure employers hire Americans before immigrants, and he wishes to force Mexico to pay for a wall between the US and Mexico, although he has not explained well how he will do this.
America has "a dysfunctional immigration system that does not permit us to know who we let into our country" (Donald Trump).
Other Republican Candidates' Opinions
Democratic Viewpoints
Many Democrats feel that immigrants in America should have the right to become citizens and to work to help improve America with the rest of the population. Democrats in Congress want to reform immigration policies to strengthen US borders while ensuring that immigrant familiescan stay together in the US. They also want to stop unfairness towards immigrants, like 3 and 10-year bars, which force immigrants in America to leave their familes for their native country for years at a time to apply for a green card. Hillary Clinton supports these ideas, but she is not making her plans too definite, as she wants to leave them open for debate.
"If we claim we are for family, then we have to pull together and resolve the outstanding issues around our broken immigration system" (Hillary Clinton).
Democratic Candidates' Opinions
Organizations that Support Immigrants
Organizations that are Against Immigrants
Independent Candidates' Views
Gary Johnson
Johnson supports citizenship for immigrants who approach it in a proper, legal way, and does not want individuals to become citizens in irregular, unusual ways. He does not agree with Donald Trump's idea to deport the millions of immigrants currently living in America.
Jill Stein
Stein believes that immigrants are very important to America’s success, and all, excluding criminals, should have help becoming citizens. She plans to better the living situations in foreign countries to slow down refugee immigration, and wants to stop unfair treatment of immigrants already in the US.