海角大神

In a bold bid for the Latino vote, Hillary Clinton has reset the calculus on a central topic of the 2016 presidential race: immigration.

Mrs. Clinton, speaking Tuesday to young, undocumented Latinos in swing-state Nevada, promised if elected to uphold President Obama鈥檚 executive actions benefiting illegal immigrants 鈥� and then go further. Unlike Mr. Obama, she would defer deportation for the parents of so-called DREAMers, an idea the administration had deemed unlawful.

And regarding her ultimate goal, Clinton injected a sense of urgency.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 wait any longer for a path to full and equal citizenship,鈥� said Clinton, speaking in a high school library in Las Vegas. 聽

In one fell swoop, Clinton distanced herself from her own past on immigration, her husband鈥檚 record, and President Obama. But most important, she staked out a position that goes well beyond anyone in the Republican presidential field.

鈥淐linton was placing a stake in the ground way further out than any Republican can reach,鈥� says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

In her remarks, Clinton slammed the GOP field on the citizenship question. 鈥淢ake no mistake,鈥� she said. 鈥淭oday, not a single Republican candidate, announced or potential, is clearly and consistently supporting a path to citizenship. Not one.鈥�

In particular, she鈥檚 targeting the Floridians, Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush, who both once supported a path to citizenship, and now favor a vaguer option, 鈥渓egal status.鈥� Clinton calls such language 鈥渃ode for second-class status.鈥�

In the GOP quest to make inroads into the fast-growing Latino vote, long dominated by Democrats, Senator Rubio and Mr. Bush are seen as the strongest potential Republican nominees. Both speak Spanish; Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants, and Bush鈥檚 wife is Mexican-born. Florida is the nation鈥檚 biggest battleground state, and a must-win for the GOP in the general election.

But during the nomination battle, Rubio and Bush are constrained by the need to appeal to Republican base voters, many of whom view any form of legal status for illegal immigrants as 鈥渁mnesty.鈥� Clinton is taking advantage of that constraint to try to lock down the Latino vote before the general election campaign has even started. Because she鈥榮 so far ahead in the Democratic nomination race, she can already play for the general election while the Republicans are busy fighting each other.聽

鈥淔or Latino voters, her positioning just erases any doubts people might have had that she was going to be soft on this issue, or wasn鈥檛 going to say anything about it before the general election,鈥� says Sylvia Manzano, a principal at Latino Decisions polling. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very clear where she stands.鈥�

Two days after Clinton鈥檚 remarks in Nevada, the Republican National Committee is using her own (old) words against her. In a 2003 radio interview, then-Senator Clinton declared herself to be 鈥渁damantly opposed to illegal immigrants.鈥� 聽

鈥淗illary Clinton鈥檚 hypocrisy knows no bounds,鈥� RNC press secretary Allison Moore said Thursday 聽accompanying an audio clip of the interview.聽

Clinton, in fact, has favored a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants for at least 10 years, but other comments have given immigration activists pause. In a 2007 debate, during her first presidential campaign, she waffled over whether illegal immigrants should be allowed to get driver鈥檚 licenses. Last summer, when the southern US border was flooded with young migrants from Central America, she called for them to be sent home.

Last month, the Clinton campaign made clear she favors giving driver鈥檚 licenses to undocumented residents. 聽And in her remarks on Tuesday, she tried to 鈥渙ut-Obama鈥� Obama on deportation policy. In the White House briefing room Wednesday, her Nevada remarks created some uncomfortable moments. Press secretary Josh Earnest was asked to explain how Clinton could promise to defer deportation for the parents of DREAMers, after the Obama administration had argued that the law did not allow it.

鈥淭here may be a legal explanation that they have that you should ask them about,鈥� Mr. Earnest said.聽

In her remarks in Las Vegas, Clinton offered her own legal interpretation.

鈥淭he law currently allows for sympathetic cases to be reviewed but right now most of these cases have no way to get a real hearing,鈥� said Clinton, who is a lawyer. 鈥淭herefore, we should put in place a simple, straightforward, accessible way for parents of DREAMers and others with a history of service and contribution to their communities, to make their case and to be eligible for the same deferred action as their children. But that's just the beginning.鈥�

DREAMers are people who were brought to the US illegally as children,聽and since 2012 have been able to apply for deferral from deportation. Last November, Obama expanded the program and added the possibility of deferred deportation for the illegal immigrant parents of US citizens and legal residents.

But he concluded, based on a memo from the Justice Department鈥檚 Office of Legal Counsel, that he could not do the same for the parents of DREAMers, because it would be too far removed from any congressionally approved use of deferred action in the past. In addition, it聽would establish a path to special immigration status with no limiting principle. It would, in theory, allow any close relative of any recipient of deferred action to seek similar status.

As it stands, Obama鈥檚 expanded deferral program announced last November is under legal challenge and not in effect.

Bush has said he would undo Obama鈥檚 deferred deportation actions; Rubio would undo some of them.

Also lingering in the background for Clinton is the immigration record of her husband, former President Bill Clinton. He signed bills cracking down on both legal and illegal immigrants, and sped up deportations. But the ex-president has made clear, on a range of issues, that the world has changed since he was president, and so have his views. Furthermore, Clinton expresses no misgivings about his wife鈥檚 emerging platform, which is decidedly to the left of 1990s-era Clintonism.

But even after Hillary Clinton鈥檚 remarks on Tuesday, immigration activists remain vigilant 鈥� and asked for more evidence that she will fulfill her promise. 聽

鈥淲e need to hear more detail, such as what doing 'everything possible under the law to go even further' than Obama would look like for her,鈥� said Cesar Vargas, co-director of the Dream Action Coalition, in a statement. 鈥淲e need to know she is willing to take political risks for us, but she has been very encouraging today.鈥�