To Judge Clinton on Immigration, Look at the Company She's Kept

Bill Clinton also militarized the U.S.-Mexico border by increasing the amount of fencing and Border Patrol agents at three different points -- in California, Arizona and Texas. Human rights activists who work on the border say the crackdown led to countless deaths since immigrants were funneled into crossing through mountains and deserts.

Finally, Clinton signed into law the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. IIRIRA made it easier to deport people and harder for them to come back legally because it bars re-entry for 10 years following a deportation. This dreadful piece of legislation is something that immigration attorneys have to battle against every single day.

Bill Clinton's grade: "D-."

-- Finally, there is President Obama, in whose administration Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state. Obama quickly broke his campaign promise to make immigration reform a top priority and, in his two terms, has deported nearly 3 million people, destroyed hundreds of thousands of families, and banished to foster care tens of thousands of U.S.-born children whose parents were deported. He pushed back for three years against immigration reformers who pleaded with him to use executive power to halt deportations by denying that he had such power. Obama miraculously discovered this authority in 2012 when he ran for re-election and needed to re-energize Latino voters, and made a similar discovery in 2014 when he tried to help Democratic members of Congress in the midterms.

The president also claimed untruthfully that his administration was largely deporting criminals and "gangbangers" when a review of the data showed otherwise. Finally, Obama removed tens of thousands of Central American refugees -- mostly women and children -- and imprisoned thousands more indefinitely in bleak detention facilities, most without due process. And Obama tried to cover up his crimes against humanity by blaming Republicans for the evil that his administration carried out.

Obama's grade: "F."

These charlatans are Hillary Clinton's peeps. She walks with them. And so -- according to that Mexican proverb she likes so much -- this should tell us exactly who she is.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.