The open borders lobby is demanding 2020 Democrat presidential candidates continue moving further to the left on national immigration policy, most recently pushing for an end to all deportations.
Former Obama official Julian Castro has staked his 2020 campaign on pushing his fellow Democrats to the left on immigration — successfully getting Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to endorse his plan of decriminalizing all illegal immigration to the United States.
Last month, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — once an opponent of the flood-the-labor-market agenda of globalist-aligned politicians — released his immigration plan that includes at least a temporary halt to all deportations of illegal aliens, including those convicted of murder, child sex crimes, and rape.
Warren, likewise, said last month she is “open to suspending deportations, particularly as a way to push Congress for comprehensive immigration reform.
Open borders activists, though, told NBC News the moves by Warren and Bernie are progress, but they are hoping all 2020 Democrats back the end to deportations — including former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Movimiento Cosecha organizer Carlos Rojas, who confronted Biden over former President Obama’s record of deporting criminal illegal aliens, said ending all deportations “is a starting point” for illegal aliens, but that the illegal population needs more from 2020 Democrats.
“We have a sitting president who launched a campaign saying Mexicans are rapists, drug dealers or criminals, so we cannot have an immigration plan that assumes all immigrants are criminals,” Rojas said.
“As for immigrants convicted of serious crimes, we already have a criminal justice system … that can deal with that,” Rojas told NBC News.
“If you are president, you are going to have more power than anyone else to reverse this trend of ramped up enforcement and deportation and that’s what activists are putting pressure on the candidates to do,” Frank Sharry, of the pro-mass immigration group America’s Voice, said.
While the open borders lobby wants 2020 Democrats to embrace their zero-deportations agenda, the majority of American voters want deportations increased and are more likely to support candidates who oppose more immigration to the U.S.
The latest Pew Research Center survey revealed that 54 percent of U.S. voters said they want to see more deportations for the nation’s 11 to 22 million illegal alien population. A September Harvard/Harris Poll found that increasing overall immigration to the country remained one of the most unpopular 2020 positions a presidential candidate could take.
As Breitbart News has reported, research finds that deporting the 11 million to 22 million illegal aliens saves American taxpayers billions of dollars, compared to the costs they are forced to pay when illegal aliens are allowed to stay.
Deporting every illegal alien in the country would amount to a cost savings of about $622 billion over the course of a lifetime. This indicates that deporting illegal aliens is six times less costly than what it costs American taxpayers to currently subsidize the millions of illegal aliens living in the U.S.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.