Hillary Clinton Vows To Create An Office Dedicated To Helping Immigrants

[news]

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is set to announce on Wednesday that she would do something new as president: create a national office dedicated to immigrants and refugees.

A Clinton aide said the former secretary of state will unveil her plan for an Office of Immigrant Affairs while receiving an endorsement from immigrant rights group the New York State Immigrant Action fund.

Clinton and opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are campaigning heavily in New York ahead of its primary next week. Immigration is a big issue there -- New York City is home to more than 3 million immigrants -- and both candidates have criticized each other's bona fides on the issue.

Much of the conversation has focused on immigration reform. Clinton's plan is notable in that it focuses on services for immigrants and refugees that the federal government can coordinate without Congress or sweeping changes using executive authority.

The Clinton campaign gave few details of the plan, other than to say her Office of Immigrant Affairs would largely build off President Barack Obama's work to integrate immigrants and refugees into the country.

Obama established the White House Task Force on New Americans in 2014 to examine how to best coordinate efforts on the local, state and national level to help immigrants, from providing services to encouraging them to apply for citizenship.

The task force recommended that the federal government encourage localities to create their own plans for integrating immigrants, with assistance from AmeriCorps VISTA service members. It also recommended ways to encourage more immigrants to seek citizenship, including grant funding for citizenship preparation classes. The task force said the federal government should help immigrant workers by ensuring they know their labor rights and encouraging entrepreneurship, and should give immigrants of all ages better access to language classes.

New York City and state each have their own offices dedicated to immigrant issues, many of them particularly pro-immigrant, such as the city's municipal ID cards that are open to undocumented immigrants.

Clinton is ahead in the polls in New York -- HuffPost Pollster averages of available surveys put her at about 52 percent and Sanders at 40 percent -- and Sanders has been going after her on immigration. His campaign held a call with reporters on Tuesday castigating Clinton for opposing driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants in New York during her 2008 bid for president, while she was a senator from the state. She has since reversed that position.

Clinton, meanwhile, has continued to call out Sanders for his vote against comprehensive immigration reform in 2007. He supported a separate reform effort in 2013.
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