Bernie Sanders Calls for Broader End to Deportations

[cali]

Democratic White House hopeful Bernie Sanders on Friday called for ending deportations for not just the children who were brought to the United States as young children but also their parents who are in the country illegally. It was an effort to outflank Sanders’ chief rival for the Democrats’ leading contender for President, Hillary Clinton.

Speaking to Latino elected and appointed officials in Las Vegas, the Vermont Senator delivered a rousing sermon about economic populism and social justice a day after Clinton offered remarks to the same crowd. While there were fewer reporters crowded on the press riser, Sanders still drew a full ballroom on the glitzy Vegas Strip and brought the crowd to its feet several times.

“Brothers and sisters, there is a lot of work to be done,” said Sanders, a political Independent who caucuses with the Democrats. “But when we stand up to those people on top whose greed has done so much damage to this country … there is no limit to what this great country can accomplish.”

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“We cannot and we should not be talking about sweeping up millions of men, women and children, many of whom have been in this country for years,” Sanders said to applause. He said splitting up families—leaving children in the United States while parents or cousins were sent home—was against the country’s values.

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As Sanders made his way toward the exit, conference participants rushed toward him, cell phones held overhead to snap pictures and arms stretched out to shake his hand. He may not win the Democrats’ nomination but he certainly spoke to the party’s base.

http://time.com/3928948/bernie-sanders-immigration/

[azmom]

1. Si se puede

[Bonobo]

2. This a really important issue.

The explosive increase in deportations left many broken families and it needs to stop.

Go Bernie!

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. 34,000 people deported for marijuana possession alone, 2007-2012.

According to Human Rights Watch:

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/tearing-families-apart-us-deporting-hundreds-thousands-drug-offenses

260,000 deported for all drug offenses during the same period.

These include people who have basically spent their whole lives in the US and are deported to a "home country" they have never known.

These include people who were legal permanent residents who have deep roots and families here.

That number does not include the tens of thousands more who spent months or years in immigration jails fighting deportation for drug offenses. More families split asunder.

[Cheese Sandwich]

4. Bernie Sanders: I Support Further Executive Action On Immigration, Too

“Despite the central role undocumented workers play in our economy and our lives these workers are too often reviled for political gain and shunted into the shadows,” he said. “It’s time to end the politics of division, playing one group against another group; White vs. black, male vs. female, straight vs. gay or native born vs. immigrant.”

Sanders also said U.S. policy in Latin America has made issues worse, blaming the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he said he was proud to say he voted against.

“Supporters of NAFTA — I remember it like it was yesterday — said it would increase the standard of living in Mexico and stem the flow of undocumented immigrants into this country as a result, and I’m sad to say the opposite happened,” Sanders said, adding that the number of Mexicans living under the poverty line has increased by 14 million since the agreement went into effect in 1994 during Bill Clinton’s administration.

And Sanders took a shot at presidential opponent Hillary Clinton and others for their comments during the surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America last year.

Sanders said it was “appalling” to him when “so many voices were saying that these children should be sent back like a package marked return to sender.”

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/bernie-sanders-i-support-further-executive-action-on-immigra#.loL5YANJ0