Clinton calls for stopping immigration raids
Hillary Clinton on Monday called on the Obama administration to end raids that target undocumented immigrants who recently arrived from Central America.
Clinton, whose statement came during the Iowa Black and Brown forum, said that enforcement efforts should be "humane."
"We have laws and we must be guided by those laws, but we shouldn't have armed federal officers showing up at peoples' homes, taking women and children out of their beds in the middle of the night," she said, according to prepared remarks.
Her remarks come a week after federal agents launched a series of raids that focused on Central American immigrants in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina. Authorities are now processing the deportations of 121 people, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The immigrants were a part of a wave of people fleeing countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to escape drug cartel violence.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the immigrants targeted had criminal records or gang ties or posed a threat to national security.
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Raids target undocumented immigrants in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas
Clinton, showing her divide with the administration, said the raids have led to "fear and division in immigrant communities."
"People are afraid to go to work. They are afraid to send their kids to school. They are afraid to go to the hospital, or even the grocery store," she said.
In addition to stopping the raids, Clinton's campaign outline the steps she would take if elected:
- Providing government-funded counsel for unaccompanied minors in immigration court
- Fixing the refugee and asylum system, including increasing resources, ensuring fair hearings and strengthening in-country processing systems
- Cracking down on criminal organizations, working with partners to strengthen conditions on the ground and investing in economic development