WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has unveiled a sweeping immigration plan to seek a pathway to U.S. citizenship for 11 million people in the country illegally, deploy immigration lawyers to the southern border and earmark $5 billion to bolster the rule of law in Central America.
The former Texas congressman becomes just the second Democratic presidential candidate to offer a comprehensive immigration proposal. Former Obama administration housing chief Julián Castro released his plan in April.
O’Rourke pledges to use executive orders to mandate that only people with criminal records be detained for illegal border crossings and send 2,000 attorneys to the border to aid asylum seekers. He plans to invest the $5 billion for Central America to combat violence and poverty.
