© 2026 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Where The 2016 Candidates Stand On Immigration, In One Chart

As the rhetoric around immigration has heated up during this presidential campaign, many candidates' views have shifted ... and some still remain unclear.
Robyn Beck
/
AFP/Getty Images
As the rhetoric around immigration has heated up during this presidential campaign, many candidates' views have shifted ... and some still remain unclear.

Immigration is shaping up to be one of the most contentious and emotional topics in the 2016 presidential race. It's also one on which candidates' views aren't yet fully formed.

It turns out that nailing down candidates' stances on immigration is really hard. They change their minds (or, at least, their messaging) fairly often, and they place a lot of conditions on what they want: mandatory E-Verify, but only if the system is revamped to work better. A path to legal status, but only once the border is secure (which raises another question: Does "secure border" mean the same thing to everyone?).

But it's worth it to figure this out. After research and reaching out to campaigns, here's our rundown of where candidates fall on six different immigration policy questions. (We plan to do this for other topics throughout the campaign season, as well. Check out our climate change table here.)

With research from Barbara Sprunt.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Danielle Kurtzleben is a White House correspondent on NPR's Washington Desk. She appears regularly on the NPR Politics Podcast and other NPR shows. 
Recent cuts to federal funding are challenging our mission to serve central and upstate New York with trusted journalism, vital local coverage, and the diverse programming that informs and connects our communities. This is the moment to join our community of supporters and help keep journalists on the ground, asking hard questions that matter to our region.

Stand with public media and make your gift today—not just for yourself, but for all who depend on WRVO as a trusted resource and civic cornerstone in central and upstate New York.