Senator Clinton’s view on immigration is somewhat murky. She has been recently reluctant to take a tough stand on closing the borders for fear of alienating voters she needs to win the presidency. On the other hand, because immigration is such a hot button issue, she’s tried to straddle the fence (no pun intended) as best she can.

You may recall that a few months ago, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer proposed allowing illegal aliens the right to obtain a New York driver’s license. His argument was that this would allow New York to have a better record of the number of illegal aliens there are in the state and who they are. Because of the public outcry against this proposal, Spitzer backed down. Clinton at first seemed to support the proposal and then seemed to oppose it. She did that in the same speech as I recall, which created a bit of a stir in the media. Once the public forced Spitzer to withdraw the proposal, it was no longer necessary for her to take a position.

The proposed Civil Rights Act of 2008 (discussed in a previous post) contains a provision that would allow the National Labor Relations Board the authority to award undocumented employees backpay. Senator Clinton is a co-sponsor of this legislation, and this provision would seem to indicate a moderate to liberal stand on at least one aspect of the immigration debate. She has also voted in favor of amnesty initiatives.

Clinton co-sponsored the Legal Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act of 2007, which would lift the current waiting period of five years for federal healthcare benefits for legal immigrants.

She voted yes on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, which would have created a guest worker program and addressed border security issues.

She voted yes on the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which created 700 miles of new fence along the U.S./Mexico border.

She has said she wants to make it easier for immigrants to bring families to the U.S. She supports an agricultural jobs program for immigrants. Although she voted for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (which included a guest worker program), she opposes any guest worker program that lowers wages of American workers or exploits immigrants. She favors comprehensive immigration reform, which would include tightening border security, sanctioning employers that hire undocumented immigrants, and helping local communities with the cost of illegal immigration. It’s unlikely that she would ever support deporting illegals on any type of broad scale basis.