--- title: Hillary Clinton Draws Distinction With GOP on Immigration description: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for a path to citizenship for people who came to the U.S. illegally canonical: https://time.com/3847991/hillary-clinton-immigration/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-06T00:14:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:57:28.349Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Draws Distinction With GOP on Immigration og:description: She called for a path to citizenship for people who came illegally. og:url: https://time.com/3847991/hillary-clinton-immigration/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07d0f104bdecc2ab/6987ee8335ba6f5310c0b39d/hillary-clinton-immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at an event at Rancho High School on May 5, 2015, in Las Vegas. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Draws Distinction With GOP on Immigration twitter:description: She called for a path to citizenship for people who came illegally. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07d0f104bdecc2ab/6987ee8335ba6f5310c0b39d/hillary-clinton-immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Draws Distinction With GOP on Immigration by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 6, 2015 12:14 AM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at an event at Rancho High School on May 5, 2015, in Las Vegas. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at an event at Rancho High School on May 5, 2015, in Las Vegas.John Locher—AP by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 6, 2015 12:14 AM UTC Hillary Clinton drew a sharp distinction Tuesday between herself and the 2016 Republican hopefuls on immigration reform, and called for a full path to citizenship for people who came to the U.S. illegally. “Today, not a single Republican candidate, announced or potential is clearly consistent in supporting a path to citizenship,” the former Secretary of State said in prepared remarks before a round table at a high school in Nevada. “When they talk about ‘legal status,’ that is code for second-class status.” Calling immigration a family and an economic issue, Clinton said she supported expanding programs for so-called Dreamers to help parents of immigrant children stay in the United States. Clinton raised eyebrows in June when she said that the unaccompanied minors fleeing violence in Central America should not be allowed to stay in the U.S. “to send a clear message.” Immigration activists expect Clinton to firmly embrace comprehensive immigration reform as a central part of her platform in 2016. In response to a question from one of the round-table participants, Clinton said she would make immigration reform one of her first initiatives if elected. “We should put in place a simple, straightforward and accessible way for parents of Dreamers and others with a history of service and contributions to their community to make their case and to be eligible for the same deferred action as their children,” she said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3847991/hillary-clinton-immigration/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3847991/hillary-clinton-immigration/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Draws Distinction With GOP on Immigration","datePublished":"2015-05-06T00:14:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:57:28.349Z","description":"Republican policies would create a \"second-class status\" for immigrants, she argued","url":"https://time.com/3847991/hillary-clinton-immigration/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Immigration","Nevada"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07d0f104bdecc2ab/6987ee8335ba6f5310c0b39d/hillary-clinton-immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07d0f104bdecc2ab/6987ee8335ba6f5310c0b39d/hillary-clinton-immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at an event at Rancho High School on May 5, 2015, in Las Vegas.","caption":"Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at an event at Rancho High School on May 5, 2015, in Las Vegas.","creditText":"John Locher—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3847991/hillary-clinton-immigration/","name":"Hillary Clinton Draws Distinction With GOP on Immigration"}}]}] ```