SLATE COLUMN: For the second time in two weeks, Hillary Clinton has surprised progressives. Last week, in the aftermath of rioting in Baltimore, she gave a strong speech on criminal justice reform, endorsing body cameras and police reform, and calling for an end to mass incarceration.
On Tuesday, speaking to a group of DREAMers—unauthorized kids brought to the country as children—at a Nevada high school, she gave the same full-throated support to comprehensive immigration reform, going beyond President Obama—and activist expectations—to endorse changes to the immigration detention system, a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants, protections for children brought to the country illegally, and an expansion of the president’s executive order, meant to keep millions of unauthorized immigrants from deportation and give millions more the right to apply for work permits and other documentation. “The American people support comprehensive immigration reform not just because it’s the right thing to do,” Clinton said during the roundtable meeting, “but because it will strengthen families, strengthen our economy, and strengthen our country. That’s why we can’t wait any longer, we can’t wait any longer for a path to full and equal citizenship.”…
Clinton also wants to reduce the number of vulnerable people in detention facilities, including children, LGBT individuals, and the elderly. “I’m very worried about detention, and detention facilities for people who are vulnerable and for children that I think we could do a better job if we kept attention to the people who have a record of violent, illegal behavior and that we have a different approach toward people who are not in that category,” she said. In practice, this means something like a probation system to ensure that immigrants appear at their court dates, and other alternatives to incarceration to protect people from sexual assault—an acute problem for LGBT immigrant detainees—and solitary confinement… (more)
