Monday, May 18, 2015 | 2 a.m.
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s recent visit to Las Vegas was as much a display of support for immigrant communities as a chance to challenge her competitors to talk about a deeply divisive issue that’s set to play a key role in next year’s election.
Politicians are quick to say a legislative overhaul is needed to fix the country’s immigration system, but few have offered clear ideas to achieve one. Clinton got a head start on the debate, using her recent visit to Rancho High School to speak on the topic and rally support from the Latino community. But Clinton didn’t lay out a comprehensive reform plan.
Here's where 10 candidates stand on immigration starting with the most lenient and ending with the most strict.
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Hillary Clinton
The former New York senator, secretary of state and first lady says she supports a “full path to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants. She’s quick to note that no Republican candidate says the same. She has criticized Republican House members for failing to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill senators approved two years ago and has praised Obama’s executive actions granting deportation relief to millions, but said she would “go a step further” in using presidential legal authority to relax deportation rules and offer work permits to illegal immigrants. The Obama administration, however, already has faced criticism, the loudest coming from conservatives, that it overstepped its legal bounds. That has led to questions about whether Clinton’s campaign promises are achievable.
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Bernie Sanders
The Vermont senator embraced Obama’s executive action and has been a supporter of the Dream Act. Although he has criticized efforts to expand guest worker programs, which provide citizenship opportunities, it was on grounds that corporations could use them as a source of cheap labor.
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Jeb Bush
Assuming Bush announces his candidacy — and a recent fundraising trip to Nevada was another indication he will — the former Florida governor’s support of in-state tuition for immigrants, granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants and providing a pathway to permanent legal status will put him at odds with conservatives.
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Ben Carson
Carson has been critical of Obama’s executive action, but he is in favor of expanding a program to allow illegal immigrants to register as guest workers, then pursue permanent legal status. He contends the reason several presidents have failed to secure the border is strictly politics — the fear of backlash at the polls from Hispanic voters.
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Mike Huckabee
Although he’s among the most strident GOP candidates in calling for more security on the border, Huckabee also has said he supports a citizenship plan — but only for children of undocumented immigrants. In addition, he supported a policy in his home state of Arkansas to provide in-state college tuition to children of undocumented immigrants.
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Rand Paul
Despite chiding the GOP for not compromising on immigration, Paul opposed a reform initiative from his own party — an overhaul proposed by Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham — and is part of a chorus of Republicans who denounced Obama’s executive action as an overreach of power.
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Marco Rubio
The Florida senator co-authored a bipartisan plan for comprehensive immigration overhaul but backed off after conservatives attacked it. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, now says border security should be tightened as leaders hash out a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration system.
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Ted Cruz
Cruz wants more Border Patrol agents, no pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and no in-state tuition for children of people in the United States illegally. Obama’s executive action? Cruz calls it amnesty. But in what would appear to be an acknowledgement that a hard stance could alienate Hispanic voters, as Mitt Romney learned in 2012, Cruz calls himself a proponent of legal immigration and says he supports an overhaul.
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Carly Fiorina
Fiorina has called for more security on the border and said she would oppose any policy that would allow undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States, even if they must make amends such as paying fines and past-due taxes. She believes a broad overhaul of immigration policy is needed, and she accused Clinton of pandering in her stance.
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Scott Walker
When he was a Milwaukee County executive, Walker urged the Senate to pass a bipartisan proposal that included a pathway to citizenship. Now, as Wisconsin’s governor and an all-but-declared candidate, he has steered to the right and has acknowledged, “My view has changed.” He calls for increased border security and has gone so far as to suggest a reduction in legal immigration if it would reduce unemployment and increase wages.
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