Questions for Democrat Presidential Candidates

Reno Gazette Journal July 4, 2019

https://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/07/03/questions-immigration-democratic-presidential-candidates-kumar/1643697001/

During the recent Democrat Presidential debates, several of you spoke in Spanish, and every single one of you in the second debate raised your hand when you were asked if government health plan should cover illegal aliens. Time after time, just about every single one of you have claimed preventing anyone from entering this country is immoral. I would like to understand your broader immigration strategy and have a few questions:

1. Back in 1986, Reagan signed a bill granting blanket amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants, but the enforcement provisions were conveniently ignored once the bill was passed resulting in 12 million illegal immigrants today. What lessons have you learned from that experience?
2. You don’t want a wall. You have laws which require anyone who seeks asylum to be granted entry into the country. You want to decriminalize illegal entry.  You are against deporting illegal immigrants who haven’t committed a crime. You want to provide illegal immigrants free medical care. You have supported sanctuary cities. How exactly is that different from open borders?
3. Roughly 14% of the population in 2017 is foreign born and expected to increase to 20% by 2050. How much immigration do you consider optimal?
4. Here are a few statistics: 1.1 million immigrants gained permanent residency in 2017, nearly double the number from 1999. Nearly 85,000 came into this country as refugees in 2016. Do you believe there should be a limit for the number of immigrant visas granted by this country? Do you think there should be any restrictions or vetting that should be part of the equation or should we admit everyone?
5. 43% of the immigrant population speaks Spanish at home. Only 17% of them speak English at home. Instead of encouraging them to learn English, you pander by speaking Spanish yourself. Do you believe that immigrants should speak English, or do you believe that we should all speak Spanish?
6. You constantly make the argument that central American people who arrive at the border are escaping violence. If they are merely escaping violence, why not stay in Mexico? Why are they trekking clear across multiple countries to come to the US?
7. If a parent is reckless in crossing a river to get into this country illegally and gets their child killed, how is that not child abuse? And, how on earth is that America’s fault?
8. If you cheat and get into college, you go to jail. But if you cheat and get into this country, you get free college and free medical care. Did I get that right?

One final point: I will cut to the chase. This topic is beyond politics as I am extremely worried about the direction we are headed with immigration. We have a significant portion of the immigrant population that is foreign born, poorly educated, and it is growing at a rapid pace. Most immigrants come from a completely different culture and do not have an understanding of this great country’s history. At what point do we lose our sense of identity as a country? We are at the tip of a perilous precipice and the entire Democrat field seems intent of pushing this country over that precipice for nothing more than short-term political gains.