--- title: 2020 Debates: Why Candidates Argued Over Section 1325 of Immigration Law description: Section 1325 is the part of U.S. immigration code that made the Trump Administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy possible. canonical: https://time.com/5615757/section-1325-immigration-law-2020-debate/ author: Jasmine Aguilera article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-06-27T14:56:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:51:59.018Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why Section 1325 of Immigration Law Is a Big Deal og:description: Democrats fiercely argued over the provision in Wednesday's debate og:url: https://time.com/5615757/section-1325-immigration-law-2020-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e079822afed746c/6989ff39e76ad24fa96360f1/debate-2020-orourke-castro-section-1325.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-2020-DEMOCRATS-DEBATE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Section 1325 of Immigration Law Is a Big Deal twitter:description: Democrats fiercely argued over the provision in Wednesday's debate twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e079822afed746c/6989ff39e76ad24fa96360f1/debate-2020-orourke-castro-section-1325.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Section 1325 of U.S. Immigration Law Was a Hot Topic in Wednesday's Debate. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Jasmine Aguilera](https://time.com/author/jasmine-aguilera/) ## Jasmine Aguilera Jun 27, 2019 2:56 PM UTC  Democratic presidential hopeful former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro (L) and Former U.S. Representative for Texas' 16th congressional district Beto O'Rourke (R) address each other as U.S. Senator from New Jersey Cory Booker and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren look on during the first Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, June 26, 2019. Democratic presidential hopeful former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro (L) and Former U.S. Representative for Texas' 16th congressional district Beto O'Rourke (R) address each other as U.S. Senator from New Jersey Cory Booker and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren look on during the first Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, June 26, 2019. JIM WATSON—AFP/Getty Images by [Jasmine Aguilera](https://time.com/author/jasmine-aguilera/) ## Jasmine Aguilera Jun 27, 2019 2:56 PM UTC One of the most heated exchanges from the first [2020 Democratic presidential debate](https://time.com/5608626/first-2020-democratic-debate-latest-news/) Wednesday night was over a 90-year-old provision in U.S. immigration law that candidates repeatedly cited by its number: [section 1325.](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1325) Two Texans vying for the White House, [Beto O’Rourke](https://time.com/5615259/cory-booker-side-eye-beto-orourke-2020-debate/) and [Julián Castro](https://time.com/5615409/democratic-primary-debate-julian-castro/), debated the provision as part of a wider discussion of immigration policy and the hundreds of thousands of migrants who are crossing the U.S. border to request asylum. Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio and Housing and Urban Development Secretary, called on O’Rourke to support repealing the section and then urged all of the Democratic candidates to also support a repeal. Elizabeth Warren has also supported a repeal. “But you’re looking at just one small part of this. I’m talking about a comprehensive rewrite of our immigration laws,” O’Rourke responded, adding that he has introduced legislation while in Congress to ensure those seeking asylum and refugees are not criminalized. “If you did your homework on this issue, you would know that we should repeal this section,” Castro said, ending the conversation. So what is section 1325? It’s the section of U.S. immigration law that makes entering the country illegally a criminal offense. --- > “” --- --- > “” --- Section 1325 allowed the Trump Administration to enact “zero tolerance” policies for migrants who crossed the southern border illegally. This includes the highly controversial family separation policy. Though being present in the United States without authorization is considered a civil offense, similar to a traffic violation, section 1325 is what makes people who arrive in the U.S. without proper documentation open to [criminal prosecution](https://www.justice.gov/jm/criminal-resource-manual-1911-8-usc-1325-unlawful-entry-failure-depart-fleeing-immigration). And it has a controversial history. The statute has been in effect since 1929, [constructed by Sen. Coleman Livingston Blease](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/27/julian-castro-beto-orourke-section-immigration-illegal-coleman-livingstone-blease/?utm%5Fterm=.f24845099d1f), who later became governor of South Carolina. Blease was a [white supremacist](https://www.propublica.org/article/behind-the-criminal-immigration-law-eugenics-and-white-supremacy) who defended lynching and segregation. Castro’s immigration plan would repeal this section, making illegal immigration a civil offense. O’Rourke [has defended section 1325](https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/16/politics/beto-orourke-immigration-border-crossings-2020-cnntv/index.html), saying it helps prosecute drug smugglers and human traffickers. “If somebody is attempting to smuggle human beings into the United States, if they are attempting to cross illegal drugs into this country, I want to make sure that we have the legal mechanism necessary to hold them accountable and to detain them to make sure they do not pose a threat to this country or to our communities,” O’Rourke said during a CNN Town Hall on June 16\. “I do not think it should be repealed.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5615757/section-1325-immigration-law-2020-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5615757/section-1325-immigration-law-2020-debate/"},"headline":"Section 1325 of U.S. Immigration Law Was a Hot Topic in Wednesday's Debate. 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