I wondered if Bernie had begun to vocalize his immigration positions on the campaign trail

[bigtree]

...I wake up this morning and here it is! Yes, he's beginning to make immigration issues a part of his rhetorical appeal to voters. Good for him. It makes political sense and it's the right thing to do.

from Politico:

Bernie Sanders tweaks stump speech amid pressure

DES MOINES — After coming under attack this week for ignoring immigration issues, Bernie Sanders answered back Friday by inserting new passages on the issue into his stump speech.

“We need a rational immigration process, not the Republican alternatives of self deportation or some other draconian non-solution,” the Vermont senator said in front of a packed auditorium at Drake University. “We need a plan which provides a path to citizenship, and I agree with President [Barack] Obama’s idea to do through executive action what the Congress refuses to do through legislation.”

His new comments come the same week that Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez, one of the most outspoken advocates of immigration reform in Congress, had harsh words for Sanders questioning his commitment to the issue. And they come amid several reports from progressive blogs and news outlets — including Daily Kos and Salon — that he hasn’t spoken out enough on racial justice issues, even when given a tailor-made opportunity at his campaign kickoff speech in Burlington, Vermont.

The additions to the speech, which were well-received by the audience here, don’t indicate new positions for Sanders. Like the other Democrats in the field, Sanders supports comprehensive immigration reform and has endorsed even more aggressive executive actions than Obama has pursued. His advisers note — with some consternation — that he is the son of a Polish immigrant, will discuss immigration at a speech in Nevada next week and campaigned for Hispanic Chicago mayoral candidate Jesús “Chuy” García — who lost to incumbent Rahm Emanuel (whom Gutierrez endorsed).

Sanders also boasts a liberal record on racial justice issues — he was a civil rights activist and participated in sit-ins in the 1960s, decried the Supreme Court’s decision weakening the Voting Rights Act and has pursued economic reforms in inner cities. Recently, he has introduced a youth jobs bill and chided the media for failing to cover a speech on African-American unemployment — a topic he often discusses.

read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/bernie-sanders-tweaks-stump-speech-amid-pressure-118963.html

[leftofcool]

1. Good, this is what he needed to do and he did it!

[LuvNewcastle]

2. So he likes immigrants!

Yeah, I always wondered if he liked his dad.

[leftofcool]

3. He did the wise thing.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. I'm not saying he didn't, but it's

so disgusting that a congressman accuses a Senator and Presidential candidate of not liking immigrants. Nothing in Bernie' s life would indicate that; in fact one would think just the opposite. They're trying to distract him. If I were him, I'd carry around a list of things the Hillary people want to know about him, rattle it off, and say "that's just in case you're keeping score." But he's probably too nice for that.

[bigtree]

5. he has a solid record of support for immigration and associated issues

I have seen a large number of votes by the senator against republican attempts to limit numbers of refugees as far back as the Clinton administration. There is definitely solid support from Sen. Sanders for associated rights for migrant workers. He's opposed border fencing, voted against deploying National Guard to the border, voted against E-Verify, against efforts to rescind sanctuary efforts and policies by individual states, voted to block efforts to defund Pres. Obama's executive orders in DHS appropriations on amnesty, voted against other efforts to delay or eliminate amnesty for undocumented immigrants (since the Clinton admin.), voted to block McCain's amendment expediting the removal of unaccompanied refugee children in 2015...

He draws a bit of a line on the H-1B foreign high-tech workers, though.

from a 2011 article about an interview with Diane Rehm:

In a passionate statement on the Senate floor on May 22, 2007, Sanders noted that while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supported the proposed guest worker program, it opposed raising the minimum wage for U.S. workers.

Said Sanders, "What this legislation is not about is addressing the real needs of American workers. … What it is about is bringing into this country over a period of years millions of low-wage temporary workers, with the result that wages and benefits in this country, which are already going down, will go down even further."

Later in the speech, Sanders noted that American business wanted to bring in foreign workers even as it was outsourcing jobs to foreign countries. "In other words, if these large corporations are not shutting down plants in the United States, throwing American workers out on the streets, moving to China where they pay people 50 cents an hour, what they are doing is developing and pushing legislation which displaces American workers and lowers wages in this country by bringing low-wage workers from abroad into America."

from the interview:

I support immigration reform. I think we need comprehensive immigration reform. The one area where I am concerned about, and I've played an active role, is I don't want to see companies utilizing guest worker programs to lower wages for American workers. Sometimes what you see is these companies are bringing people from other countries around the world with really the expressed goal of lowering wages in America. And that concerns me. But, on the other hand, do we have to integrate the people who are in this country into the United States in one way or another sort of path towards citizenship, I do believe that...

from Immigrant Action:

In 2007, Sanders voted against a comprehensive immigration reform bill because of his concerns around how guest-worker programs impact native workers. Most recently, Sanders joined other Senators calling on the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Labor Department to investigate potential abuses in the H1-B program.

Immigrants are already providing many economic benefits to Sanders’ home state of Vermont. Undocumented immigrants are an important component of the tax base in Vermont and pay $2.8 million in state and local taxes in 2010...

Sanders was initially reluctant to support the Senate Immigration reform bill, S. 744 over concerns with guest worker programs, however after an amendment that would have provided $1.5 billion over two years to state and local job programs targeting 16- to 24-year-olds was added, Sanders voted for the bill.

Sanders also seemingly understands the need to include a pathway to citizenship in immigration reform. Specifically, Sanders noted how S.744 would have directly impacted the 2,000 Hispanic migrant workers in his state, Vermont:

“The immigration bill includes a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants; the DREAM Act which offers conditional citizenship to those who were brought to the U.S. as children; and stronger security for our borders. This bill will also provide legal status for agricultural workers – including those working on dairy farms in Vermont.”

I don't think the heritage of his dad suffices as an indication of where the senator stands on specific issues related to immigration, although I'm certain it has relevance to any question of whether he 'likes' immigrants.

[LuvNewcastle]

6. I was being sarcastic.

That's what that congressman said the other day. He said, "I don't think he likes immigrants." That was just fucking uncalled for. He was just so nasty and it's a real shame, because Bernie is one of his biggest allies.

[bigtree]

7. congressman whatshisname?

...he really put both feet in it. His idiotic criticisms threatened to preclude what Sen. Sanders so astutely and graciously did here in his 'stump speech.' I hope we can move past all of that and focus on the issues.

[raouldukelives]

11. Well, he knows that his candidate exploits them for profit. He just wasn't sure about Bernie.

Now he knows, Bernie doesn't support the exploitation of immigrants, or indigenous people, for profit.
Sorry Wall St guy. No victimization of the poor here for you.

[lunamagica]

16. Ted Cruz's father and Marco Rubio's parents are immigrants, and they

hate immigrants, so it is possible.

I never thought Bernie hated immigrants, I just worried of how much a priority immigration is to him.

I don't want to have another president and wait, wait, wait for years because everything under the sun takes precedence over immigration.

[NCTraveler]

8. This is the beauty of the primaries.

It tests our candidates strategies and message before the general. Work the kinks out now so we can kick the republicans ass. Those who believe they are too perfect to change will be doomed to fail. All of our candidates will make changes on the stump due to pressure from external voices. Go Sanders!!!!

[bigtree]

9. exactly

"Those who believe they are too perfect to change will be doomed to fail. All of our candidates will make changes on the stump due to pressure from external voices."

[JustAnotherGen]

10. Good to see this

That was a cheap shot from that Congress member.

If Sanders wins the nomination - Gutierrez better get his ass out there - mea culpa - and reverse his opinion. Shame on Gutierrez. Shame on him!

[Ms. Toad]

12. If they'd listened to more of the Dianne Rehm than the controversial 1 minute section

they'd have heard it at least as early as Wednesday.

[jberryhill]

13. The only thing posted at DU about the Rehm interview

I have no idea what, if anything else, was discussed in the Rehm interview.

That bizarre question about citizenship was the only thing discussed at DU.

[Ms. Toad]

14. It was an hour long interview,

In which he talked about anything and everything Diane or callers asked. I only heard about 20 minutes of it - including the discussion of his views on immigration - which sounded remarkably like the snippet excerpted above.

Which was kind of my point. Rather than listen to the entire interview for the broad insight into what Sanders believes about a wide range of topids, the focus has been on an exchange which took less than a minute, to the exclusion of everything else he said.

[bigtree]

15. I'm not following his campaign as closely as some folks

...that probably holds true for many potential voters right now - as good a reason as any to make these issues a standard appeal in his speeches.

[Ms. Toad]

18. I'm not following it much at all - but I did hear about half of the Diane Rehm show

and there was a whole lot more there than the offensive comment. It's too back that the jam packed conversation is reduced to one inexcusable moment.

[LWolf]

17. I'm not surprised.

He has a solid record behind him on all kinds of issues; mentioning them while campaigning makes sense, since not everyone is going to look up his record, and it will certainly lay some of the smears to rest.