2016 presidential candidates on DACA and DAPA

See also: President Obama's Immigration Accountability Executive Actions

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2016 Presidential Election Date: November 8, 2016

Candidates Winner: Donald Trump (R) Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates

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For information about immigration policy under the Trump administration, click here.

This page was current as of the 2016 election.
At the time of the 2016 election, it was unlikely that President Barack Obama’s (D) immigration executive actions would go into effect before his term ended. The future of nearly 5 million individuals residing in the country without legal permission, who would benefit from the deferred action policies, would be left to the winner of the 2016 presidential election.

HIGHLIGHTS

On November 20, 2014, President Barack Obama proposed expanding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and creating the Deferred Action for Parents of U.S. Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program.

At the time of the 2016 election, DAPA had not been implemented, and DACA had not been expanded because Texas and 25 other states challenged the programs in federal court.

Donald Trump (R) opposed DACA and DAPA. Hillary Clinton (D), Gary Johnson (L), and Jill Stein (G) all supported DACA and DAPA.

See what the 2016 candidates and their respective platforms said on DACA and DAPA below.

What are DACA and DAPA?

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a program that allows individuals who were brought to the United States as children to receive relief from being deported for a period of time if they meet certain criteria. Deferred Action for Parents of U.S. Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) proposed delaying the deportation of parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and providing them with work permits, as long as they were in the United States since January 1, 2010, and did not pose a threat to national security or public safety.

Both programs rely on deferred action which is "[a] use of prosecutorial discretion to not remove an individual from the country for a set period of time, unless the deferred action is terminated for some reason. Deferred action is determined on a case-by-case basis and only establishes lawful presence but does not provide immigration status or benefits of any kind."

Nearly 800,000 people were granted deferred action under DACA through fiscal year 2015, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Interested in reading more about the 2016 candidates' stances on issues related to DACA and DAPA?
Ballotpedia also covered what the candidates said about immigration, labor and employment, and national security.

OVERVIEW OF CANDIDATE POSITIONS

Hillary Clinton supported Obama’s executive actions on the DACA and DAPA programs.

Donald Trump opposed DACA and DAPA and called Obama's executive actions on DACA and DAPA “one of the most unconstitutional actions ever undertaken by a President.”

Jill Stein supported DACA and DAPA.

Gary Johnson supported DACA and DAPA.

Democratic candidate

Hillary Clinton

• After the United States Supreme Court blocked President Obama from implementing his Immigration Accountability Executive Actions on June 23, 2016, Hillary Clinton tweeted: "Today's heartbreaking #SCOTUS immigration ruling could tear apart 5 million families facing deportation. We must do better. -H." In a statement, Clinton called the ruling purely procedural and said that she thought President Obama had the authority to implement his immigration executive actions.

• During a Democratic town hall event on February 19, 2016, a woman asked, "Mrs. Clinton, what would you do to make possible that the DACA students become permanent residents? You know, they live with a lot of fear, because they have to renew their permits every two years and that is a terrifying prospect for them." Clinton replied, "Well, that's why I support the president's executive orders on DACA and DAPA. And I will do everything I can to make sure that they are kept in place. As you know, there's a court action challenging them. I don't know what's going to happen now, because of the Supreme Court situation. But I will renew them. I will go further if it's at all legally possible. And I will make this a big political issue because we need to keep those young people working, going to school, being productive members of our society. So I have to tell you, I will do what I can as president. I'm hoping if we win back the Senate and we win the White House again, the Republicans are going to see the error of their ways and quit using immigrants to divide our country and quit taking the kind of mean-spirited actions that they do. You know, I was the first person to call out Donald Trump. I said, 'Basta!' enough of this prejudice and paranoia and the kind of language that he uses. So I will do everything I can not only for the young people who deserve the highest protection, but for their families, as well."

"Hillary Clinton Speaks On The Future Of DACA," February 19, 2016.

• At the sixth Democratic presidential debate on February 11, 2016, Clinton discussed President Obama's Immigration Accountability Executive Actions and comprehensive immigration reform. She said, “I strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the DREAM Act. I voted for comprehensive immigration reform in 2007. Senator Sanders voted against it at that time. Because I think we have to get to comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. And as president I would expand enormous energy, literally call every member of Congress that I thought I could persuade. Hopefully after the 2016 election, some of the Republicans will come to their senses and realize we are not going to deport 11 or 12 million people in this country. And they will work with me to get comprehensive immigration reform.”

• During a campaign speech at the National Immigrant Integration Conference in Brooklyn, New York, on December 19, 2015, Clinton noted that her director of Latino outreach, Lorella Praeli, was a DREAMer in order to highlight her stance on DACA and DAPA. Clinton said, "We’ve got to keep pushing Congress to act and we’ve got to keep raising the stakes, so candidates and elected officials know there will be consequences if they do not support comprehensive immigration reform. But having said that, we also can’t wait for the Congress. Too many families’ futures hang in the balance. So you can count on me to defend President Obama's executive actions on DACA and DAPA when I am president."

• Clinton's campaign website stated that would she "defend DACA and DAPA against partisan attacks and politically motivated lawsuits that would put DREAMers and others at risk of deportation." It also noted that Clinton would "put in place a simple, straightforward, accessible system for parents of DREAMers and others with a history of service and contribution to their communities to be able to make their case and be eligible for deferred action as well."

• On May 5, 2016, Clinton expressed her support for President Obama's executive actions on expanding DACA and implementing DAPA. She said, “If Congress refuses to act, as President I will do everything possible under the law to go even further. There are more people — like many parents of DREAMers and others with deep ties and contributions to our communities—who deserve a chance to stay. I’ll fight for them too. The law currently allows for sympathetic cases to be reviewed, but right now most of these cases have no way to get a real hearing. Therefore we should put in place a simple, straightforward, and accessible way for parents of DREAMers and others with a history of service and contribution to their communities to make their case and be eligible for the same deferred action as their children.”

• Washington Post opinion writer Greg Sargent wrote, "Clinton didn’t definitively say that as president she would award what amounts to a quasi-categorical grant of deferred action status to parents of DREAMers. Rather, she said she would seek to improve the process by which parents of DREAMers can apply for existing deferred action status, which (as mentioned above) they can already do."

• Immigration attorney David Leopold agreed with Sargent's assessment, saying, “All of us walked away from this thinking she is going to expand DACA and DAPA, but it’s not clear she would do that. She didn’t explicitly call for expanding Obama’s current executive actions. She didn’t say, ‘I’m going to expand DAPA to the parents of DREAMers.’ What she did say is there should be a simple process in place by which people who have been here a long time can apply for deferred action. But that wouldn’t mean a categorical grant.”

• Read more of Hillary Clinton's public statements on immigration.

The 2016 Democratic Party Platform on immigration

“ Fixing our Broken Immigration System The United States was founded as, and continues to be, a country of immigrants from throughout the world. It is no coincidence that the Statue of Liberty is one of our most profound national symbols. And that is why Democrats believe immigration is not just a problem to be solved, it is a defining aspect of the American character and our shared history. The Democratic Party supports legal immigration, within reasonable limits, that meets the needs of families, communities, and the economy as well as maintains the United States’ role as a beacon of hope for people seeking safety, freedom, and security. People should come to the United States with visas and not through smugglers. Yet, we recognize that the current immigration system is broken. More than 11 million people are living in the shadows, without proper documentation. The immigration bureaucracy is full of backlogs that result in U.S. citizens waiting for decades to be reunited with family members, and green card holders waiting for years to be reunited with their spouses and minor children. The current quota system discriminates against certain immigrants, including immigrants of color, and needs to be reformed to the realities of the 21st century. And there are real questions about our detention and deportation policies that must be addressed. Democrats believe we need to urgently fix our broken immigration system—which tears families apart and keeps workers in the shadows—and create a path to citizenship for law-abiding families who are here, making a better life for their families and contributing to their communities and our country. We should repeal the 3-year, 10-year and permanent bars, which often force persons in mixed status families into the heartbreaking dilemma of either pursuing a green card by leaving the country and their loved ones behind, or remaining in the shadows. We will work with Congress to end the forced and prolonged expulsion from the country that these immigrants endure when trying to adjust their status. We must fix family backlogs and defend against those who would exclude or eliminate legal immigration avenues and denigrate immigrants. Those immigrants already living in the United States, who are assets to their communities and contribute so much to our country, should be incorporated completely into our society through legal processes that give meaning to our national motto: E Pluribus Unum. And while we continue to fight for comprehensive immigration reform, we will defend and implement President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans executive actions to help DREAMers, parents of citizens, and lawful permanent residents avoid deportation. We will build on these actions to provide relief for others, such as parents of DREAMers. We will support efforts by states to make DREAMers eligible for driver's licenses and in-state college tuition. We will invest in culturally-appropriate immigrant integration services, expand access to English language education, and promote naturalization to help the millions of people who are eligible for citizenship take that last step. We believe immigration enforcement must be humane and consistent with our values. We should prioritize those who pose a threat to the safety of our communities, not hardworking families who are contributing to their communities. We will end raids and roundups of children and families, which unnecessarily sow fear in immigrant communities. We disfavor deportations of immigrants who served in our armed forces, and we want to create a faster path for such veterans to citizenship. We should ensure due process for those fleeing violence in Central America and work with our regional partners to address the root causes of violence. We must take particular care with children, which is why we should guarantee government-funded counsel for unaccompanied children in immigration courts. We should consider all available means of protecting these individuals from the threats to their lives and safety—including strengthening in-country and third-country processing, expanding the use of humanitarian parole, and granting Temporary Protected Status. We will promote best practices among local law enforcement, in terms of how they collaborate with federal authorities, to ensure that they maintain and build trust between local law enforcement and the communities they serve. We will also vigorously oversee any programs put in place, to make sure that there are no abuses and no arbitrary deportation programs. We will establish an affirmative process for workers to report labor violations and to request deferred action. We will work to ensure that all Americans—regardless of immigration status—have access to quality health care. That means expanding community health centers, allowing all families to buy into the Affordable Care Act exchanges, supporting states that open up their public health insurance programs to all persons, and finally enacting comprehensive immigration reform. And we will expand opportunities for DREAMers to serve in the military and to then receive expedited pathways to citizenship. We will fight to end federal, state, and municipal contracts with for-profit private prisons and private detention centers. In order to end family detention, we will ensure humane alternatives for those who pose no public threat. We recognize that there are vulnerable communities within our immigration system who are often seeking refuge from persecution abroad, such as LGBT families, for whom detention can be unacceptably dangerous. We reject attempts to impose a religious test to bar immigrants or refugees from entering the United States. It is un-American and runs counter to the founding principles of this country. Finally, Democrats will not stand for the divisive and derogatory language of Donald Trump. His offensive comments about immigrants and other communities have no place in our society. This kind of rhetoric must be rejected. ”

Republican candidate

Donald Trump

• After the United States Supreme Court blocked President Obama from implementing his Immigration Accountability Executive Actions on June 23, 2016, Donald Trump tweeted: "SC has kept us safe from exec amnesty--for now. But Hillary has pledged to expand it, taking jobs from Hispanic & African-American workers." He also issued the following statement: "Today's 4-4 Supreme Court ruling has blocked one of the most unconstitutional actions ever undertaken by a President. The executive amnesty from President Obama wiped away the immigration rules written by Congress, giving work permits and entitlement benefits to people illegally in the country. This split decision also makes clear what is at stake in November. The election, and the Supreme Court appointments that come with it will decide whether or not we have a border and, hence, a country. Clinton has pledged to expand Obama's executive amnesty, hurting poor African-American and Hispanic workers by giving away their jobs and federal resources to illegal immigrant labor – while making us all less safe. It is time to protect our country and Make America Safe Again and Great Again for everyone."

• In August 2015, Trump said that he would rescind President Obama's Immigration Accountability Executive Actions, which proposed extending DACA and creating DAPA. During an interview with Chuck Todd, host of NBC's "Meet the Press," Trump said, "We have to make a whole new set of standards. And when people come in, they have to come in..." Todd then interrupted Trump, asking, "You're going to split up families. You're going to deport children." Trump replied, "Chuck — no, no. No, we're going to keep the families together. We have to keep the families together." Todd then asked, "But you're going to kick them out?" Trump replied, "They have to go." Todd then asked, "What if they have no place to go?" Trump said, "We will work with them. They have to go. Chuck, we either have a country or we don't have a country. Either we have a country or not."

• Read more of Donald Trump's public statements on immigration.

The 2016 Republican Party Platform on immigration

“ Immigration and the Rule of Law Our party is the natural home for those who come in search of freedom and justice. We welcome all to the Great Opportunity Party. The greatest asset of the American economy is the American worker. Our immigration system must protect American working families and their wages, for citizens and legal immigrants alike, in a way that will improve the economy. Just as immigrant labor helped build our country in the past, today’s legal immigrants are making vital contributions in every aspect of national life. Their industry and commitment to American values strengthens our economy, enriches our culture, and enables us to better understand and more effectively compete with the rest of the world. We are particularly grateful to the thousands of new legal immigrants, many of them not yet citizens, who are serving in the Armed Forces and among first responders. Their patriotism should encourage all to embrace the newcomers legally among us, assist their journey to full citizenship, and help their communities avoid isolation from the mainstream of society. We are also thankful for the many legal immigrants who continue to contribute to American society. To that end, we both encourage the preservation of heritage tongues and support English as the nation’s official language, a unifying force essential for the advancement of immigrant communities and our nation as a whole. America’s immigration policy must serve the national interest of the United States, and the interests of American workers must be protected over the claims of foreign nationals seeking the same jobs. With all our fellow citizens, we have watched, in anger and disgust, the mocking of our immigration laws by a president who made himself superior to the will of the nation. We stand with the victims of his policies, especially the families of murdered innocents. Illegal immigration endangers everyone, exploits the taxpayers, and insults all who aspire to enter America legally. We oppose any form of amnesty for those who, by breaking the law, have disadvantaged those who have obeyed it. The executive amnesties of 2012 and 2014 are a direct violation of federal law and usurp the powers of Congress as outlined in Article I of the Constitution. These unlawful amnesties must be immediately rescinded by a Republican president. In a time of terrorism, drug cartels, human trafficking, and criminal gangs, the presence of millions of unidentified individuals in this country poses grave risks to the safety and sovereignty of the United States. Our highest priority, therefore, must be to secure our borders and all ports of entry and to enforce our immigration laws. That is why we support building a wall along our southern border and protecting all ports of entry. The border wall must cover the entirety of the southern border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. We insist upon workplace enforcement of verification systems so that more jobs can be available to all legal workers. Use of the E-verify program — an internet-based system that verifies the employment authorization and identity of employees — must be made mandatory nationwide. We reaffirm our endorsement of the SAVE program — Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements — to ensure that public funds are not given to persons not legally present in this country. We demand tough penalties against those who engage in identity theft, deal in fraudulent documents, and traffic in human beings. The Department of Homeland Security must use its authority to keep dangerous aliens off our streets and to expedite expulsion of criminal aliens. Gang membership should be a deportable offense. Any previously deported illegal alien who continues to show a lack of respect for our borders and rule of law must be penalized. This is why we support stiffer penalties, such as a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, for any illegal alien who illegally re-enters our nation after already having been deported. Because “sanctuary cities” violate federal law and endanger their own citizens, they should not be eligible for federal funding. Using state licenses to reward people in the country illegally is an affront to the rule of law and must be halted. In light of both current needs and historic practice, we urge the reform of our guest worker programs to eliminate fraud, improve efficiency and ensure they serve the national interest. In light of the alarming levels of unemployment and underemployment in this country, it is indefensible to continue offering lawful permanent residence to more than one million foreign nationals every year. The Supreme Court has correctly recognized that states have the constitutional authority to take steps to reduce illegal immigration. We condemn the Obama Administration’s lawsuits against states that are seeking to reinforce federal law. We support the right of the states to enact laws deterring illegal aliens from residing within their states. From its beginning, our country has been a haven of refuge and asylum. That should continue — but with major changes. Asylum should be limited to cases of political, ethnic or religious persecution. As the Director of the FBI has noted, it is not possible to vet fully all potential refugees. To ensure our national security, refugees who cannot be carefully vetted cannot be admitted to the country, especially those whose homelands have been the breeding grounds for terrorism. ” —2016 Republican Party Platform

Green candidate

Jill Stein

• After the United States Supreme Court blocked President Obama from implementing his Immigration Accountability Executive Actions on June 23, 2016, Jill Stein issued the following statement: "Our nation of immigrants needs a just immigration system that won't allow the ruling elite to divide working people. That means halting deportations, passing the DREAM Act, and creating legal status and a path to citizenship for hard-working, law-abiding undocumented immigrants. ... The US government shouldn't be deporting innocent families who are fleeing violence, starvation and persecution in their home countries. Forcing them to return puts them at risk of rape, torture, and death. Many have already had family members murdered or actively threatened with murder." Stein added that "she would seek to reinstate the administrative protections against such deportations and appoint a US Supreme Court Justice that would uphold the constitution and protect the needs of average people," if elected president.

• After the ruling, Stein also criticized Hillary Clinton in the following tweet: "As SOS Hillary supported the deportation of immigrants. Including refugees coming from Honduras, a crisis she was very much responsible for."

• Read more of Jill Stein's public statements on immigration.

The 2016 Green Party Platform on immigration

“ J. Immigration/ Emigration Immigration and particularly the large number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. has become a hot political issue. Laws to oppress immigrants have been proposed in the Congress. Millions of immigrants and supporters of justice for immigrants have marched in the streets. Politicians have stirred up anti-immigrant sentiment among sections of the U.S. population. It also must be acknowledged that the trigger for such an influx of immigrants in this country has been largely due to unfair US trade policies. If it were economically possible to provide for their families many would choose to remain in their native countries. Any immigration policy should be seen a way to address all people's humanitarian needs as we undo the damage to local communities and chart a course toward sustainable local economies. The Green Party stands firmly for social justice for all those living in this country regardless of their immigration status. Above all, policy and law must be humane. Anything less would be inconsistent with our Green Values, and with our nation's values. The Green Party accepts as a goal a world in which persons can freely choose to live in and work in any county he or she desires. We recognize that this would be impractical without reciprocity between nations. We seek that reciprocity as a practical goal. Countries do have a right to know the identity of persons seeking to enter. They also have the right to limit who can come in to protect public safety. The U.S. needs a complete overhaul of its immigration laws. Our current situation has created extreme social injustice. Millions of people are living and working in the U.S. with no legal status, making them subject to extreme exploitation and abuse. Immigration raids are terrorizing the immigrant community. Families are being broken up. Employer abuses of undocumented workers are rampant. The Green Party must consider immigration issues from an international standpoint, taking into account international labor and environmental standards, and human rights. The following proposals may not yield perfect answers, but they provide better answers than the status quo. We must recognize that there cannot be any true solutions to the conflicts created by immigration until we are able to organize globally to overcome the power of multinational corporations, which are engaged in an unending campaign to drive down workers' living standards everywhere. International cooperation and solidarity among labor organizations, to advance the rights of labor and raise such living standards globally, are essential to combat this trend. Until the power of the multinationals is curbed, we will continue to be confronted with seemingly "no win" choices. While working toward that goal, we propose the following immigration policies, consistent with the Ten Key Values. 1. Policy Reform The undocumented immigrants who are already residing and working in the United States, and their families, should be granted a legal status which includes the chance to become U.S. citizens. Persons should be excluded from this process only if they present a clear and present danger to other members of our society. The level of fees required for this process should not be a burden on low-income workers. In any path to citizenship created to provide an orderly and appropriate resolution of the status of persons currently in the United States without proper documentation, we demand a recognition of past, uncredited payments into the Social Security System as part of any fees assessed for regularization of status. In regard to who should have a right to come and live and work in the U.S. we believe the following policies are fair: a. The Green Party calls for permanent border passes to all citizens of Mexico and Canada whose identity can be traced and verified. The "matricula consular"should be accepted as one means of proving one's identity. Work permits for citizens of Mexico and Canada must be easily obtainable, thereby decriminalizing the act of gainful employment. This action would help eliminate exploitation of undocumented persons by criminals engaged in human contraband (coyotes) and unethical employers. It would also help ensure that taxes will be paid in each corresponding nation per its laws. These measures will also help temporary residents from Mexico and Canada to secure driving privileges and liability insurance. b. All persons fleeing political, racial, religious, or other types of persecution must be welcomed and given permanent resident status. The history of arbitrary denial of political asylum claims must be ended. Particular attention should be given to those minorities who are political exiles and refugees and those whose lives would be at risk if asylum is not granted. c. Family reunification must be a priority in accepting applications for permanent residency. The years of waiting that families are currently put through must be ended. d. Permanent residency should not be denied based on political views, racial or national origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, disability, or any other arbitrary basis. e. There are many countries in the world where the economic policies and military actions of the U.S. government or U.S. based corporations have caused extreme hardships. The peoples of these countries deserve special consideration if they wish to come to the U.S. to escape intolerable conditions created by our government or U.S. corporations. f. We must keep faith with our commitment to the United Nations, to assist in the resettlement, including to our own country, of refugees currently stranded in refugee camps in other parts of the world. g. All those who are issued work permits must have the option to come and go from the U.S. as they desire. They must also have the option of remaining in the U.S. and becoming U.S. Citizens. 2. Interim Measures Recognizing that a just reform of immigration policy may take some time, the Green Party supports: a. Measures to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers licenses if they can prove their identity and pass the required tests. This will improve road safety and allow the undocumented who are driving in any case to obtain insurance. b. Measures to give legal status to undocumented immigrants who graduate from high school in the U.S. and who are otherwise qualified, to allow them to attend colleges and universities on an equal basis with other high school graduates. The Green Party is opposed to efforts to force undocumented youth into becoming cannon fodder for the U.S. military as the price for legal status. c. Reduce wait lists and make the system work more efficiently: current numeric caps on immigrant visas must be increased. The current system of quotas and preferences has to be thoroughly and realistically reformed. Current backlogs must be brought up to date as soon as possible. Wait times for processing and resolving immigration benefit applications should be reduced to no more than six months. Pre-1996 screening criteria for legal permanent residency and citizenship applications should be restored. d. The understandable concern about immigrant workers competing for jobs with current citizens cannot and should not be addressed by criminalizing undocumented immigration or punishing fellow victims of U.S. corporatist policies. Instead, we must reverse these policies. Among other things, we should repeal NAFTA, CAFTA, Fast Track and other corporate globalization policies. We must stop using our tax dollars to subsidize corporate agribusiness and to promote poverty in Latin America, and start using them to help reward environmentally responsible family farmers, encourage improved infrastructure and economic conditions in Latin America, and raise labor standards, at home and abroad. Here at home, we must also promote the policies, as outlined in the Economy and Workers' Rights sections of this Platform, that can help us achieve a full employment economy at a living wage, including strictly enforcing and expanding the rights of all workers to form unions. e. We advocate an end to employer sanctions, which have been shown to hurt not only undocumented workers but also U.S.-born workers (especially those of color). Instead, the focus on employers must be to vigorously enforce our wage and labor laws. Instead of further victimizing the victims of corporate globalization, create real opportunities and raise labor standards for all! f. We oppose the provision of current law which allows local police to become agents of the immigration agency. Local policing functions should be totally separate from immigration enforcement. g. Greens oppose "English-only" legislation. Immigrants already have ample incentive to learn English. But when interaction with the government is limited to the English speaking, persons are put at additional risk of exploitation. The focus needs to be on providing adequate and accessible English language instruction and assistance. We advocate legislation to ensure that federal funds marked for communities to provide ESL (English as second language) training, and health and social support services to immigrants actually go to them. When funds are spent in other areas, immigrants are being deprived of benefits that they earn as productive workers in their communities. Meanwhile, courts, social service agencies, and all government agencies dealing with the public must provide trained and certified translators. Additionally, the language rights of peoples who were in this land before it became part of the U.S., including Native Americans and Mexicans in the Southwest, must be recognized and respected. h. We oppose the militarization of our borders, (mis)using the National Guard as border police, and building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. This will further intensify the human rights disaster our immigration policy has become, as well as seriously harm border ecosystems. We demand an immediate end to policies designed to force undocumented border-crossers into areas where conditions dramatically increase the risk of permanent injury or death, destruction of fragile environments, and the cutting off of corridors needed by wildlife for migration within their habitat. For these reasons we specifically oppose the walling off of both traditional urban crossing areas and of wilderness areas. We also call for the immediate dismantling of the border wall. We mourn the death of those thousands of men, women and children who have died trying to cross this border, where a couple of decades ago such deaths were virtually unheard of. i. We must resist proposals that use illegal immigration as an excuse to put us all under further government monitoring and control by means of a national ID card or other identification or tracking systems. We also oppose the imposition of the "E-Verify" system to screen people applying for jobs. Citizen workers who have been propagandized to support "tougher" measures to identify and apprehend undocumented workers need to carefully consider what they are asking for. The same snare they want the government to use against undocumented workers can easily be used to repress them. Our government is already engaged in illegal spying and surveillance of its own citizens. It is already invading our privacy. A national ID card system is one of the hallmarks of a totalitarian government or police state. We need to repeal the Real ID Act and resist the establishment of any system that would suppress freedom to travel and require citizens and non-citizens alike to "show their papers" and reveal their private information to government monitors at every turn. j. We demand recognition of the sovereignty of indigenous nations whose territories cross national boundaries. These indigenous nations have the right to determine the status of their members. k. We demand new policies and laws that deal more effectively and humanely with the victims of illegal international trafficking in humans — primarily women and children who are bought, kidnapped, coerced, brutalized, defrauded, tricked, sold and marketed for forced sex (rape) and prostitution, with an estimated 50,000 trafficked to the U.S. l. We call for stiffer, more appropriate policy, structure and laws to deal with traffickers, and also demand that procedures to deport victims before the traffickers are prosecuted must be changed to allow the victims to testify against the traffickers, which plays a major role in bringing these cases to justice and helping stem the tide of this heinous crime. The victims of trafficking should have the option of permanent residence in the U.S. or return to their home countries, according to their own choice. ” —2016 Green Party Platform

Libertarian candidate

Gary Johnson

See also: Gary Johnson presidential campaign, 2016/Immigration

• When asked about President Obama's Immigration Accountability Executive Actions during the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) conference on June 23, 2016, Gary Johnson said, “I happen to agree with Obama. ... I think that what Obama has done is what needs to happen, although I would not want to be deporting and breaking up families like has happened. But the executive orders that he has implemented — I agree with. They’re all OK.”

• Read more of Gary Johnson's public statements on immigration.

The 2016 Libertarian Party Platform on immigration

“ 3.4 Free Trade and Migration We support the removal of governmental impediments to free trade. Political freedom and escape from tyranny demand that individuals not be unreasonably constrained by government in the crossing of political boundaries. Economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders. However, we support control over the entry into our country of foreign nationals who pose a credible threat to security, health or property. ” —2016 Libertarian Party Platform

Withdrawn candidates

Democrat

• Bernie Sanders on DACA and DAPA

Republicans

• Jeb Bush on DACA and DAPA
• Ted Cruz on DACA and DAPA
• John Kasich on DACA and DAPA
• Marco Rubio on DACA and DAPA

See also

• 2016 presidential candidates on immigration
• President Obama's Immigration Accountability Executive Actions
• Deferred Action for Parents of U.S. Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA)
• Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
• Deferred action

External links

• FACT SHEET: Immigration Accountability Executive Action