Hundreds of users follow Documented’s work on WhatsApp and we asked them: What are the immigration-related issues you want candidates to be talking about this election? They overwhelmingly listed two topics: immigration reform and immigrant labor rights.
We collected the positions on the issues from the presidential candidates and some of the New York congressional candidates. Find them listed below:
White House
Immigration Reform
Joe Biden (D)
Supports:
- Supports Asylum Seekers and Implementation of new asylum laws
- Providing a pathway to citizenship for many immigrants in the U.S.
- Expanding family-based migration
- DACA recipients and their families
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection are held accountable
Opposes:
- Family Separations at the border
- Merit-based visas
- Public Charge ruling
- “Muslim Ban” laws, which prohibits entry of immigrants from specific countries
President Donald Trump (R)
Supports:
- The construction of a border and additional detention centers
- The removal of undocumented immigrants
- A merit-based immigration system
- Limiting access for asylum seekers
- Public Charge rule
- Limiting the number of diversity based visas
Opposes
- Chain migration
- Visa lotteries
- Counting undocumented immigrants in the census
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
- Funding to Sanctuary Cities
Immigrant Labor Rights
Joe Biden (D)
Supports:
- Protecting wages and expanding the number of “High Skilled” (H-1B) Visas
- Increasing the number of employment-based visas based on economic conditions
Also Read: A Look At Trump´s First Term in Office
President Donald Trump (D)
Supports:
- H-1B visas are awarded to the most skilled or highest-paid petitioner
- Increasing the number of employment-based visa in ratio to family-based visas
Also Read: How Trump’s War on Sanctuary Cities Affected Immigrants
N-21
Immigration Reform
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R)
Supports:
- Prioritizing securing the U.S.-Mexico border over all other immigration policy decisions
- Reforming the H-2A visa system for farmers
- Protecting the 2019 America’s Food and Agriculture Act
- Providing a path to legal status for DACA recipients who are in the military, working, or enrolled in school.
Opposes:
- Amnesty for undocumented immigrants
Tedra Cobb (D)
Supports:
- A pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, including codifying DACA into law
- Simplifying the visa application process
- Ensuring that residents with limited English language skills have access to interpreters during clinical and hospital visits
- Separating police and immigration authorities from one another
Opposes:
- Visa or travel restrictions based on religion
Immigrant Labor Rights
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R)
Supports:
- The NY Farm Bureau, a member based organization for farmers that has historically opposed labor rights legislation for farm workers, the majority of whom are immigrants and undocumented.
- The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which establishes a mandatory E-Verify process to identify undocumented workers.
Opposes
- Legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses — Green Light Law
Tedra Cobb (D)
Supports:
- Providing basic labor rights (such as the right to a day of rest, overtime pay, disability pay, and collective bargaining) for immigrant workers
- Simplifying the process for migrant workers to acquire the necessary visas to work
- Establishing a REAL ID-compliant, two-tier driver’s license system.
- Enforcing regulation that prohibits the exploitation of seasonal and/or undocumented workers.
Also Read: Iranians Affected the Most by Trump’s Travel Ban
NY-11
Immigration Reform
Rep. Max Rose (D)
Supports:
- The Dream and Promise Act, Rose co-sponsored this bill
- Temporary Protected Status
Opposes:
- Trump’s administration’s travel ban, Rose led the passage of the NO BAN Act, which repealed the Trump administration’s Travel Ban
Nicole Malliotakis (R)
Supports:
- Implementing an entry/exit tracking system for immigrants
- Using E-Verify, a web-based system that checks workers’ eligibility to labor in the U.S.
- Streamlining the process for visas and citizenship
- Investing in CBP and ICE
Opposes:
- Sanctuary City policies
- The American Dream and Promise Act
- Offering state tuition assistance to undocumented immigrants.
- Legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses — Green Light Law
- Legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to register to vote in NYS
Immigrant Labor Rights
Rep. Max Rose (D)
Supports:
- Legislation that authorizes undocumented workers, who have worked at least 180 days in a 2-year period to become certified agricultural workers (CAW), as outline in HR5038.
Nicole Malliotakis (R)
Opposes:
- Bill A1792 to extend farm worker’s benefits, 72% of whom are foreign-born.
Also Read: Immigration Courts Under Trump: Backlogs and Courts Independency
NY 22
Immigration Reform
Claudia Tenney (R)
Supports:
- Building a border wall including a budget that made a down payment for its construction
- Legislation that would impose penalties on government officials who obstruct federal immigration law.
- Increasing penalties for undocumented immigrants who re-enter the US after deportation
- A bipartisan Budget Act that provided $1.6 billion to improve border security
- The Securing America’s Future Act, which would have ended chain migration, created a visa lottery, funded the border wall and cut funding to sanctuary cities.
- The Protect Kids and Parents Act, intended to end the separation of families seeking asylum and expedite the asylum process for individuals arriving in the U.S. with children.
Opposes:
- The Border Security and Reform Act of 2018, which supported DREAMERs and addressed ways to prevent the separation of families at the border.
- The Dream Act, Tenney was quoted saying it ‘put illegals first.’
Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D)
Supports:
- “Tough but fair” immigration reform
- Strengthening border security to prevent “dangerous people” from entering.
- A pathway to citizenship for immigrant families who abide by the laws and pay taxes.
- The New York State DREAM Act
Opposes:
- Abolishing ICE
- The separation of families at the border
Immigrant Labor Rights
Claudia Tenney (R)
Supports:
- The 2018 Securing America’s Future Act, which repeals the diversity visa program from the Immigration and Nationality Act
Opposes:
- Bill A1792 to extend farm worker’s benefits, 72% of whom are foreign-born.
Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D)
Supports:
- The Farm Workforce Modernization Act , which would offer a path for farm workers and their families to obtain legal status