Hillary Clinton on Immigration

Clinton believes that the current immigration system is broken and needs to be reformed. She believes that any comprehensive reform must show respect and compassion toward immigrants and not tear apart families. She supports a path to legalization for illegal immigrants that includes learning English and paying fines. Clinton also wants tougher penalties for employers and business that are hiring illegal immigrants. Hillary also believes that a comprehensive reform must start by securing the border and has voted for the fence along the Mexican border. She supports the creation of a new system to verify employment eligibility. Clinton opposes the guest worker program that lowers wages for American workers or leads to exploitation of immigrants. On her website, Clinton lists the actions she has taken on immigration:

• She championed the Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act, which would give states the option to provide federally funded Medicaid and SCHIP benefits to low-income legal immigrant children and pregnant women.
• She wrote the Access to Employment and English Acquisition Act to meet the growing demand for English language courses and other job skills.
• She strongly supports the DREAM Act, which provides a path to citizenship through military service or higher education for children who were brought to the U.S. by their parents.
• She offered an amendment to make family reunification the guiding principle of our immigration system.

Taken from hillaryclinton.com

It is very important to me that Clinton is supportive of legislation that will keep immigrant families together, because in my own community there are many Armenian families that have been damaged by deportations. It would be unthinkable for me if I was separated from my husband and child. I am glad that a presidential candidate understands the devastation the current policies can cause and wants to reform them.