Immigration has been a central issue of the 2016 presidential campaign. Perhaps no other issue presents as sharp a contrast between the visions of the two leading candidates as immigration.
Yet, inexplicably, this driving issue of the 2016 campaign was entirely absent from the first two debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It was not until the third and final debate, just 20 days before the American people head to the polls, that this issue was addressed head-to-head by the candidates.
Even more inexplicably, when finally given the opportunity to address the public’s deep-seated concerns about the economic, social, cultural and national security impact of a rudderless immigration policy, both candidates reverted to vague generalities and platitudes. With the attention of nearly everyone who will cast a vote on Nov. 8, neither Trump nor Clinton made a compelling case for how they would reform immigration in a way that serves identifiable national interests.
In the end, the forum and the candidates left voters with more questions about immigration policy than were answered during the debate.
Read the rest of Dan Stein’s guest opinion at The Hill here.
7 Comments
I. Do agrée ,,,,was te of our Money. And fill the pocket of illégales ,and peoples taking advantage
A réforme. Is over due ,Shame to the politiciens.
well it is simple , you seal the border , and start to deport the criminals , and enfoce our immigrations laws we have till congress gets off there dead asses to change the law , it’s congresses job not the presidents , to write law, and then the president gets to either sign it or veto it , not write executive orders to go around the law
Wat I read about the Latin Americans being on Medicare n food stamps makes me sick. The waste n abuse of my tax dollars. Our politicians are inept. I bust my ads to make an honest living yet I hav to pay for freeloaders. I m sick n tired of politicians wasting our tax dollars.
These politicians are all bought and paid for. There’s a video from July 2013 of House speaker Paul Ryan saying “put yourself in the shoes of the gentleman from India who’s waiting for his green card”. We don’t owe anyone from another country anything.
Ryan is supposed to represent the American citizens who elected him, but he’s just another guy with a sign around his neck saying for sale to highest bidder. He should be worried about the gentleman from Milwaukee who will lose his job to the gentleman from India.
Ryan is 100% behind Hillary and her “immigration reform” which will include amnesty for illegals and vastly increased worker visas wanted by big business to lower wages and increase their already high profits.
Florida is no doubt the largest swing state. But a lot of the Democratic votes come from Puerto Ricans who have moved to central Florida from the island. They are free to do so because they are citizens. The reason many have left is because of the conditions there. There’s only one thing that saves it from being just another Latin American failure. That is the fact that the island is the recipient of massive aid and tax breaks from Washington.
Half are on Medicaid or food stamps and there are no federal income taxes on money earned there. In spite of this tremendous financial advantage, the place is a mess because of corruption and incompetence. Crumbling infrastructure has worsened their problems. But they are quick to move here and vote for the same policies that failed there.
The Philippines has been a huge source of immigrants to this country and has one of the longest waiting lists in the world for visas. Their president has just declared he is going to “side” with China in the future. We have allies in the region and we don’t need to beg you to let us protect you. When the Japanese captured the islands in WW2, Filipinos decided that maybe we weren’t so bad after all and almost to a person cooperated with the US in retaking the country. Don’t want us? Good luck in dealing with the cutthroat Chinese govt. Just don’t come running to us anymore
The Republican Primaries Emphasized Immigration More
It was Trump’s Icon or main centerpiece..”build the wall”…
Then the general election for the independents and undecided….it switched more to the dismal 1% GDP economy joblessness with reference to immigration/outsourcing [about the same thing anyway???] sucking from lower 50% incomes in inner cities for that sectors vote and aren’t enthusiastic for Hillary either [unlike Obama]. The stable Trump base got there because they didn’t want open borders or IAs invading….to get this implemented we need first to get the undecided voter too in the voter booth for Trump. We need to win the election no matter what it takes to also win for immigration.
WAKE UP AMERICA WE NEED THE BORDERS TO BE CLOSED . THESE PEOPLE ARE COMING INTO THIS COUNTRY AND GETTING FREE EVERYTHINS. THEY ARE TAKING FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHAT THEY HAVE WORKED FOR THEY ALSO TAKE THE JOBS THAT AMERICAN PEOPLE DESERVE. VOTE FOR THE ONE WHO WANTS THE BORDERS CLOSED TO KEEP THEM FROM COMING INTO THIS COUNTRY AND TAKING EVERYTHING AWAY FROM US. ALSO VOTE FOR THE ONE WHO IS AGAINST ABORTION AND THE ONE WHO IS FOR ISRAEL. GOD IS IN CONTROL AND I KNOW THAT IF ONE OR TWO COME TOGETHER IN HIS NAME HE WILL COME AND HEAL OUR COUNTRY