My diary on my support for Bernie Sanders was on the recommended list for nearly the whole weekend. But I've noticed that the diary on Hillary Clinton's benchmark-setting stance on immigration policy fell off rather quickly, by comparison.
Hillary Clinton has drawn a line in the sand on the subject of immigration reform -- and by "reform" it is meant a more humane and rational approach to the treatment of America's workers, documented and undocumented -- so far ahead of anyone else in the field that it's worth mentioning again. I think that it's possible it's been overlooked.
President Obama has received extraordinary political and legal backlash from his moves on the subject. Immigration policy along Clinton's lines is not the "right" move for a politically-craven person, regardless of the political spin one way or another. But still: Hillary Clinton has proposed moving even further than President Obama, and in her reasoning and her policy proposals she is right. And she is more right than other candidates in the field. And for the right reasons.
There is a place for American labor speaking out in favor of protecting their wages, jobs, and role in the American economy. But we cannot have second-class workers in this country, on whom we rely on for low prices while at the same time vilifying for their mere existence within our borders. Our meat cannot be processed by people afraid of deportation if they speak out against abuse. Our agriculture cannot be harvested by people worried about being separated from their families if they ask to be treated humanely.
The American labor movement cannot rediscover itself by papering over those injustices. Undocumented workers, who work in the United States, are American labor. Workers' rights should be expanded. And this should cover all American labor.
For-profit and indiscriminate detention of non-criminals, who mere days before may have been contributing to the bottom line of some American company, and contributing to the health, wealth, and sustenance of the American people...this has NO sense in it. Not economic sense, not moral sense, not political sense. The reasons that barely disguised hatred and dehumanization of these people takes political hold may be varied, but there's one right way to respond to it...
Clinton said she believes that undocumented immigrants who are children, who are particularly vulnerable such as transgender individuals, or who generally are not criminals should not be detained. She also criticized the congressional mandate that a certain number of detention beds be maintained and the fact that private prison companies run many immigrant detention facilities.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
So, as the ACLU says:
The “lock ’em up” approach to detention is contrary to common sense and our fundamental values. In America, liberty should be the norm for everyone—and detention the last resort.
https://www.aclu.org/...
Hillary Clinton has taken a stance against this sort of punitive and inhumane immigration policy. It's the strongest we've seen in the field so far. And it's been a surprise, for many. Credit is due to her, and to her campaign.