Morning Update: Licenses and Immigrants
The Democratic presidential candidates grappled with the issue of driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants in last night’s CNN debate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Gov. Bill Richardson said they support granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, but Obama added: “The problem we have here is not driver’s licenses. Undocumented workers don’t come here to drive,” he said. “They’re not coming here to go to the In-N-Out Burger. They’re here to work.” Richardson noted that he already has implemented a policy granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in his state of New Mexico, calling it a “matter of public safety.” John Edwards and Sens. Joe Biden (D-DE), Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) all said they would oppose such a measure. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) objected to host Wolf Blitzer’s use of the term “illegal immigrant” in his question. “There aren’t any illegal human beings,” he said. He also said the “best way to deal” with the immigration problem is to “cancel NAFTA and renegotiate the trade agreement with Mexico.”
On Pakistan, Biden pointed out that he spoke to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and to Benazir Bhutto before President Bush did. He reiterated his proposal to withdraw U.S. funding for Pakistan’s F-16s and P-3s if Musharraf does not restore democracy by January. Edwards said the case of Pakistan is evidence that “America’s ad hoc policy” on nuclear weapons is not working and that the United States must “lead a long term international effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons.”
On trade, Clinton conceded that NAFTA, which passed under her husband’s administration, was “a mistake to the extent that it did not deliver on what we had hoped it would.” Dodd again called for a moratorium on imports from China in light of the wave of contaminated products. Obama said the United States should model Japan’s inspection of Chinese imports. Biden seemed to object to the premise of the argument about China. “Under the WTO, we can shut this down,” he said. “What are we talking about here? It’s about a president who won’t enforce the law.”
Another issue in the foreign policy-dominated debate was Clinton’s support for a Senate measure branding a segment of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as terrorists, which her opponents say could open the door for war. Clinton said there was “no basis” for such fears. “The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has assisted the militias and others in killing our Americans and maiming them [in Iraq],” she said. “They have imported technology and technical assistance. I believe they are a terrorist group.”
