Clinton, Sanders promise no child deportations if elected president
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders promised they would not deport children who came to the United States illegally, amid tough questioning about immigration during Wednesday night's Democratic primary debate.
The debate focused heavily on issues surrounding the Latino community, as it was co-hosted by the Spanish language channel Univision, along with The Washington Post.
"I will not deport children," Clinton said.
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"No, I will not deport children from the United States of America," Sanders said.
Clinton also said she'd focus on deporting only people with a criminal record. "The undocumented people living in our country, I do not want to see them deported," she said.
Sanders was more unequivocal when asked whether he would promise not to deport immigrants without a criminal record. "I can make that promise," he said.
During the debate, both Clinton and Sanders tussled over their past support for immigration reform.
Clinton hit Sanders for not voting for a 2007 immigration reform bill that she said was the "best" chance to fix what she called a broken system.
"I think our best chance was in 2007, when Ted Kennedy led the charge on comprehensive immigration reform. We had Republican support. We had a president willing to sign it. I voted for that bill. Senator Sanders voted against it," Clinton said. "Just think, imagine where we would be today if we had achieved comprehensive immigration reform nine years ago."
Sanders defended himself on that vote, saying he objected to guest-worker provisions in the legislation.
"I should also say with regard to the 2007 immigration bill, as you may know, LULAC, the major Hispanic organization in this country, also opposed that bill as did many other Latino organizations," Sanders said. "But to your point, we have to do the best we can."
LULAC, or the League of United Latin American Citizens, did oppose the bill.
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Emily Cahn is a political reporter at Mashable. Prior to Mashable, Cahn spent nearly four years at Roll Call, where she covered House and Senate races and congressional shenanigans. She has also been a copy editor at The Washington Post, and interned at The Hill, the Houston Chronicle and CBS News when she was a student at The George Washington University. Aside from being a political junkie, Cahn loves dogs and experimenting with cooking. Follow her on Twitter @CahnEmily, where she posts pictures of her family's two misbehaved poodles.
