Democratic Debate 2016: Clinton, Sanders Confront Immigration, Race Relations, Obama Differences

By Michael Oleaga First Posted: Feb 12, 2016 12:58 AM EST

In the first debate since the New Hampshire primary, Democrats Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton debated on a series of topics with answers attempting to sway Latino and African-American voters.

Immigration

Clinton and Sanders spoke in support of President Barack Obama's immigration executive actions, which are the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA), and the candidates reiterated their platform to go beyond Obama's action, if necessary, if Congress does not act on comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship.

Clinton acknowledged Sanders' "no" vote on the 2007 comprehensive immigration reform bill, which was introduced by late-Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. Sanders, at previous debates and forums, had explained his reasons and spoke again at length on the decision.

"I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups said that the guest worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited and if they stood up for their rights, they were thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens), one of the large Latino organizations in this country, it was the AFL-CIO, some of the most progressive members of the United States Congress," Sanders said.

Sanders and Clinton, both, have called for the end of immigrant family detention and the closure of privately-run detention facilities. Clinton, on the topic of immigrant children, said she has "made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to the families and the communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers."

"But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message," Sanders later said to Clinton. "Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. I don't think I would use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help get their lives together."

Race Relations

According to Sanders, race relations would improve during his presidential administration, even compared to Obama.

"Because what we will do is instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure those kids stay in school are able to get a college education," said Sanders, adding that Wall Street's decisions have disproportionately affected Latino and African-American communities.

Sanders acknowledged, "So when you have childhood African American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration which by the way leaves the children back at home without a dad or even a mother, clearly we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those people are African American."

Clinton commended Obama and his efforts on improving race relations, noting the obvious that he's the first black president but also helping pass the Affordable Care Act, which provided many people of color with health insurance, including more than four million Latinos.

President Barack Obama

As seen in previous debates, Clinton has consistently spoken in support of Obama, and had criticized Sanders for not supporting his policies. She continued to attack Sanders' view on Obama on Thursday night, stating the president does not get the credit he deserves.

"The kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans, I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama."

Sanders responded, "Madame secretary, that is a low blow," later adding that they live in a democratic society, which enables freedom of opinion. "Last I heard, a United States senator had a right to disagree with a president, especially a president who has done such an extraordinary job," Sanders said.

Sanders would then deliver one of the most memorable lines of the night during at the opening of his closing remarks: "One of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate," referring to Clinton's presidential run against Obama during the 2008 election.