Sen. Bernie Sanders has threatened to continue the use of executive action like Barack Obama has done in order to enact immigration reform.
During Wednesday night’s Democratic debate on CNN, Sanders called for comprehensive immigration reform arguing, “If the Congress does not do its job, as president of the United States, I will use the executive powers of that office to do what has to be done to do what President Obama did and expand on that.”
Sanders was asked asked about if he was “concerned with working conditions for guest workers or really because you think immigrants drive down wages and take jobs from Americans” and he replied, “Guest worker programs [are] akin to slavery. Where people came in, they were cheated, they were abused, they were humiliated and if they stood up for their rights, they would be thrown out of the country. Of course that type of effort leads to a race to the bottom for all of our people. And I work very hard on that issue. And of course, I supported the 2013 immigration reform bill.”
Later, Sanders said, “I applaud President Obama for his efforts in DAPA [Deferred Action for Parents of Americans] and DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] and we’ve got to expand those efforts.”
