Hillary Clinton rocked a conference room in Germany after admitting that migration ‘went too far’ and has had ‘disruptive and destabilizing’ effects on countries with open borders.
The 78-year-old former Secretary of State’s change of heart shocked the Munich Security Conference on Saturday as she spoke on the panel, ‘The West Divide: What Remains of Common Values.’
‘There is a legitimate reason to have a debate about things like migration,’ Clinton began.
‘It went too far, it’s been disruptive and destabilizing, and it needs to be fixed in a humane way with secure borders that don’t torture and kill people and how we’re going to have a strong family structure because it is at the base of civilization.’
At the conference, Clinton referred to current deportation efforts as ‘bullying’ and ‘very shameful.’
‘This debate that’s going on is driven by an effort to control people. To control who we are, how we look, who we love, and I think we need to call it was it is,’ she said.
Clinton went on to admit that there were places where a physical barrier would be appropriate, but that a wall stretching across the border is not necessary, Fox News reported.
The former First Lady’s comments are in stark contrast with much of her previous statements referring to the migrant crisis in the United States.
During Donald Trump’s first run in The White House, Clinton condemned his immigration efforts and claimed he had ‘made it worse with cruel abuses at the border, detaining children and separating them from their families.’
‘It’s one of the most shameful moments in our history,’ she said in 2018, Newsweek reported.
Similar to her platform during her presidential campaign, Clinton has been a fierce advocate for immigration reform and said laws should be ‘enforced with fairness and respect for human rights.’
Throughout her 2016 campaign, she was staunchly opposed to severe deportation efforts and her anti-immigration opponent Trump.
She promised to open an Office of Immigrant Affairs in the White House and take ‘a very hard look at deportation policies.’
Just as Trump pledged, Clinton too said she would put criminals and terrorists at the top of the deportation list.
‘I have a very active agenda, and we’re gonna be moving on it,’ she said.
In 2015, she accused Trump and Marco Rubio of wanting to ‘tear families apart’ with their promises of harsher immigration laws.
At the National Immigration Integration Conference in Brooklyn that same year, she laid out her hopes to open up a ‘path to citizenship’ for immigrants, including waiving visa feeds, providing more language programs and closing private detention centers.
‘If you work hard, if you love this country and want nothing more to build a good future for you and your children, we should give you a way to come forward and become a citizen,’ she said.
‘There are millions of people in America who could be naturalized for one reason or another, they’re not. So let’s help more of our neighbors claim their rights. It’s so powerful, so precious to be a citizen of the United States.’
As she dreamed of her chance in the president’s seat, Clinton had plans to continue on with former President Barack Obama’s executive orders related to immigration.
‘I will fight for comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship,’ she told a Las Vegas group of high school student immigrants.
In addition to the ‘DREAMers’ Obama protected from deportation – those brought to the US as minors – Clinton said she wanted the program to also grant legal amnesty to the parents.
‘I want to do everything we can to defend the president’s executive orders,’ she said, adding separately that ‘as president I would do everything possible under the law to go even further.’
