Buttigieg, Klobuchar trade fire on immigration and experience
Pete Buttigieg went after Amy Klobuchar during Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate over the Minnesota senator’s record on immigration and her votes to approve judges and officials nominated by President Trump.
“If you’re going to run on your record in Washington, then you’re going to have to own those votes, especially when it comes to immigration. You voted to confirm the head of Customs and Border Protections under President Trump, who is one of the architects of the family separation policy,” the former South Bend, Ind., mayor said in reference to Klobuchar’s vote to confirm Kevin McAleenan to head the CBP. McAleenan later became the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security.
“You voted to make English the national language,” Buttigieg continued in a sustained attack against Klobuchar, who is also seeking support from moderate and Hispanic voters in Saturday’s Nevada caucuses.
“Do you know the message that sends in as multilingual a state as Nevada to immigrants? You’ve been unusual among Democrats, I think the Democrat among all of the senators running for president, most likely to vote for Donald Trump’s judges, who we know are especially hostile to Dreamers and to the rights of immigrants.
Now, in South Bend, it was not always easy to stand up in a conservative place like Indiana on immigration, but we delivered. We created a municipal ID program so that Dreamers [people who immigrated to the U.S. as children] and others who were undocumented were able to navigate everyday life. We stood up for those rights and stood with members of our community with the message that they were as American as we are.”
Buttigieg then finished his comments in Spanish before Klobuchar returned fire.
“I wish everyone were as perfect as you, Pete, but let me tell you what it’s like to be in the arena. Number one, do the math, as my friend Andrew Yang, if he was up here, that’s what he’d say. In fact, I have opposed, not supported, two-thirds of the Trump judges, so get your numbers right, and I am in the top 10 to 15 [in the Senate] of opposing them,” the senator responded.
“Number two, when it comes to immigration reform, the things that you are referring to, that official that you are referring to, was supported by about half of the Democrats, including someone in this room, and I will say this, he was highly recommended by the Obama officials, you know why, because Trump had so few career people. I did not one bit agree with these draconian policies to separate kids from their parents, and in my first 100 days I would immediately change that. And I would add one more thing: I have been in the arena.”
After the moderator cut her off, Klobuchar continued, “He made a pretty big allegation against me again, and I think I should have a right to respond.”
But Buttigieg then pressed his case. “I’m stating a fact because these are the votes that you took and these votes set you alone among the Democrats running for president. Is it true or is it false?” he asked.
Visibly irritated by the exchange, which was one of several tense moments between the two more moderate candidates, Klobuchar responded, “First of all, what you’ve said about the judges are false. You are comparing me to two colleagues up here on this stage and you’re forgetting—”
Buttigieg then interrupted. “I would say anybody who ran for president this cycle. Senator Harris and Senator Booker saw through this —”
It was then Klobuchar’s turn to interrupt, and she pivoted back to her support for previous pieces of immigration legislation, including a 2007 bill that would have provided a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
“You know what, Pete, if you could let me finish, since I’ve been in the arena. Senator [Edward] Kennedy asked me to work on the first immigration bill. We were able with President Bush to at least get that bill to a vote.”
Klobuchar also knocked Bernie Sanders for his opposition to that bill before turning her attention back to Buttigieg.
“I’m sorry, but Senator Sanders actually opposed that bill and I worked on it and if we had gotten that bill done, there would have been a path to citizenship for so many people, and you know what, then I worked on the 2013 bill. I’m actually so proud of the work I’ve done on immigration and you have not been in the arena doing that work. You’ve memorized a bunch of talking points and a bunch of things, but I can tell you one thing, what the people of this country want, they want a leader that has the heart for the immigrants of this country, and that is me.”
Buttigieg, however, got the last word of the back-and-forth.
“You know maybe leading a diverse city that was facing ruin doesn’t sound like the arena to you,” he said. “I’m used to senators telling mayors that senators are more important than mayors, but this is the arena too. You don’t have to be in Washington to matter.”
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