Bernie's immigration plan

[fridi]

Bernie Sanders wants to revamp trade deals, labor protections as part of sweeping immigration plan

And, while I would take any article on a Democrat presidential candidate published by Fox News with a huge (truckload) grain of salt,

Sanders' immigration plan: Halt deportations, abolish ICE, welcome 50K 'climate migrants,' give welfare to all

"As president, Sanders also would decriminalize illegal border crossings, making it a civil violation.
"Part of that plan includes breaking up both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) -- the two main agencies involved on the ground in enforcing immigration law in both communities and at the border. Matters to do with deportation and enforcement would return to the Department of Justice, customs matters to the Treasury and naturalization and citizenship*to the State Department.
"For those immigrants, illegal or not, who are in the country, Sanders accelerates the sometimes-cautious calls by the 2020 Democratic field to include illegal immigrants in welfare programs and other government services such as health care. Under Sanders, everything is on the table for everyone in the country regardless of immigration status.
"Sanders promises that both his “Medicare-for-all” and “College-for-all” plans would be available regardless of immigration status. He also wants to include free universal school meals -- breakfast, lunch, dinner (and snacks) -- regardless of immigration status."

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I like most of Sanders's plan, but these 3 items are going to be problems for him. The first 2 are just issues of messaging, but Democrats are notoriously incompetent with messaging.

Conservatives make decriminalization sound like legalization. Sanders doesn't want to legalize illegal immigration. He wants to make it a civil offense rather than a criminal offense.

Conservatives make it sound like the Democrats want to stop enforcing immigration and customs laws altogether. Sanders doesn't want to just abolish ICE and CBP. He wants to restructure them outside of DHS.

The third item is a bigger problem. I can't think of any good messaging myself that is going to enthuse Americans about providing welfare and other government benefits to all immigrants regardless of their status. Good luck with that one, Bernie.

Again, since FOX is not exactly the most reliable source on Democrats, I've provided another source at the top for those who, like me, are dubious of FOX. I'm happy to say that if you read both articles objectively, they say about the same thing.

Comments

[oportet]

Convincing the country we can afford things we obviously can't will be a tough task for any Democrat candidate - not just Bernie, although the total price of his fantasies is probably top 2 or 3 in the field.

Conservatives know decriminalization and legalization aren't the same thing - they just believe the results will be the same.

[kiaa]

Do they? I mean, most of them? Cuz they don't sound like it.

[oportet]

I think most see decriminalization as the obvious first step on the way to legalization.

But if dems are claiming that isnt true - they need to give more specifics on what decriminalization means when they use the term. Are we going to hand out citations at the border?

[oportet]

Or put another way - if there is no punishment, if there is no deterrent - wouldn't you say that sounds legal - even if some clever political phrasing says it ain't so?

[mikeyxw]

That's kind of what I'm getting. There would be a moratorium on deportations (I'd expect this wouldn't extend to those committing crimes). There's also a pathway to citizenship, which in the past just meant you had to prove you were in the country a certain amount of time and hadn't committed any serious crimes. In short, anyone can pretty much come to the US, enjoy Scandinavian style benefits from day 1, and stay until they qualify for citizenship. It looks like having a green card without any of the costs or restrictions.