Julian Castro Takes His Border Decriminalization Proposal a Step Further

by Jason Hopkins   Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro is doubling down on his position of border decriminalization by calling for the repeal of the law that makes it a felony to illegally enter the U.S. more than once. Castro, like other Democratic presidential contenders, has long wanted unauthorized entry into the country to be decriminalized. Under current law, it’s a misdemeanor the first time any alien illegally crosses the border into the U.S., a crime punishable up to six months in prison. He and other presidential hopefuls in his party are calling for such an action to be a civil offense instead of a criminal offense. Castro — a former Housing and Urban Development secretary during the Obama administration — has now taken this position a step further, telling HuffPost that he would like criminal reentries to be decriminalized as well. “I’d like to see those being treated as a civil matter,” Castro said to the liberal news outlet in a report published Tuesday. “I don’t believe in criminalizing desperation.” While it is a misdemeanor for an alien to illegally cross the border for the firs time, it is a felony if caught crossing two or more times. Any…

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Stephanopoulos Challenges Julian Castro Over Immigration Proposals, Asks ‘Isn’t That Effectively Open Borders?’

by Chuck Ross   George Stephanopoulos on Sunday challenged Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro over whether his proposals to provide health care to illegal immigrants and to decriminalize illegal border crossings amount to open border policies. In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Stephanopoulos asked Castro, who served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration, whether he gave an opening to Republicans who have accused Democrats of supporting open border policies. “Not at all,” said Castro, who later in the interview derided claims that Democrats support open border policies as “just a right-wing talking point.” “It always has been.” Castro gained traction during a Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday when he said that his proposed health care plan would allow illegal immigrants to purchase health insurance. Castro also said that he wants to decriminalize crossing the border. In a Democratic debate on Thursday, all 10 candidates raised their hands to say they would support government-funded health care for illegal immigrants. Castro mounted a case to include illegal immigrants in his health insurance plan, saying that “undocumented immigrants already pay a lot of taxes.” “Secondly, we already pay for the health care of undocumented immigrants,” he added. “It’s called the…

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Commentary: Reparations: The Problems with Social Justice Economics

by Doug McCullough   Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, as well as former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, have embraced the idea of reparations for the descendants of slaves as part of their 2020 presidential bids. As Castro said on MSNBC’s Hardball, It is interesting to me that under our Constitution and otherwise, that we compensate people if we take their property. Shouldn’t we compensate people if they were property sanctioned by the state? Writers like Ta-Nehisi Coates have made a sympathetic case for reparations for the crime of slavery: Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole. You will get no argument from me about the moral repugnance of slavery or racial injustice. But putting reparations in practice today would be challenging… and misguided. Slippery Slope Slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow laws, and all the other injustices that flowed from the hideous institution of slavery are some of the starkest blemishes on American history. Yet some have described the treatment by white settlers of indigenous peoples and the…

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