Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders stressed his opposition to open borders, saying instead that comprehensive immigration reform is needed, The Washington Post reported.
When the Vermont senator was asked by someone in the audience at an Oskaloosa, Iowa, town hall over the weekend why he supported open borders, he declared that “you may be getting your information wrong. That is not my view. I think what we need is comprehensive immigration reform.”
Sanders emphasized that “If your point is, open the borders, my God, there’s a lot of poverty in this world, and you’re going to have people from all over the world. And I don’t think that’s something that we can do at this point.”
Sanders has not yet released his official stance on immigration, and neither have the majority of those running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly labelled Democrats as the "party of Open Borders," although no elected Democrats have actually declared that as their policy, according to The Hill.
In July, Sanders expressed his support for restructuring Immigration and Customs Enforcement in line with a general immigration overhaul, saying “We must not be about deporting Dreamers, young people who have lived in this country virtually their entire lives.”
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