Castro Plans to Grant Millions Amnesty, Gut Immigration Enforcement
Proposal removes criminal penalties for those entering U.S. illegally
Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro unveiled a far-reaching immigration plan on Tuesday that would make it easier for illegal immigrants to enter and remain in the United States.
Castro, who served as secretary of housing and urban development in the Obama administration, is the first 2020 Democrat to present a detailed immigration plan. The plan comes as Castro struggles to gain
traction in a crowded Democratic field, despite being the only Latino running. He outlined his vision in a post on
Medium.
The slogan animating Castro's immigration proposal is "putting people first," where the people to whom it refers are indisputably would-be immigrants to the United States. Broadly speaking, Castro's plan would extend legal rights, and eventually citizenship, to all people illegally residing in the United States; make it substantially easier to legally and illegally immigrate; and conversely make enforcement of immigration law substantially harder by removing law enforcement from the equation almost entirely.
Surprisingly, the most mundane aspect of the Castro plan is his sweeping legalization proposal. He promises a "pathway to full and equal citizenship" for all
11 million people currently illegal in the United States. This explicitly includes childhood arrivals (DACA recipients) and the parents of children born in the United States (DAPA recipients), as well as beneficiaries of
Temporary Protected Status. He would also seek to end
the bars that prohibit the previously illegal resident spouses of U.S. citizens from acquiring a green card without a waiting period of up to 10 years.
Castro Plans to Grant Millions Amnesty, Gut Immigration Enforcement
