MIAMI — Fighting for Florida and beyond, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders tangled in an intense debate Wednesday night over who’s the true friend of American Hispanics, trading accusations over guest worker programs “akin to slavery” and the embracing of “vigilantes” against immigrants.
They had even worse things to say about Republican front-runner Donald Trump.
Facing off just six days before Florida gives its verdict on the presidential race, Clinton faulted Sanders for repeatedly voting against a 2007 comprehensive immigration reform bill; he faulted her for opposing a 2007 effort to let people who were in the country illegally obtain driver’s licenses. Had the immigration package passed back then, Clinton said, “a lot of the issues we are still discussing today would be in the rearview mirror.”
Sanders retorted that he opposed the legislation because it included a guest worker program “akin to slavery.”
The debate opened with a question that appeared to startle Clinton.
Univision’s Jorge Ramos asked her if she would drop out of the race if indicted over the handling of her email while secretary of state.
“Oh for goodness, that is not going to happen,” Clinton declared. “I’m not even answering that question.”
The FBI is investigation the possibility of mishandling of sensitive information that passed through Clinton’s private email server. Sanders, as he has in the past, declined to take up the issue, saying, “The process will take its course.” He said he’d rather talk about the issues of wealth and income inequality.
Both candidates were looking for momentum after Sanders startled Clinton with an upset victory in Michigan on Tuesday.
Clinton stressed that she has a strong lead in the delegates, declaring, “This is a marathon, and it is a marathon that can only be carried by the kind of campaign I am running.”
Sanders said his Michigan surprise was evidence that his message is resonating.
“We are going to continue to do extremely well,” he said, adding that he expects to convince superdelegates who are backing Clinton to switch to his column.
Immigration commanded considerable attention for good reason: Florida is home to nearly 1.8 million Hispanics, including about 15 percent of the state’s Democrats.
Hispanic voters have made up about 10 percent of voters in the Democratic primaries so far this year, and Clinton has been getting about two-thirds of their votes to about one-third for Sanders. The Vermont senator, for his part, stresses that he’s making progress on winning over younger Hispanics.
Clinton at one point accused Sanders of supporting legislation that would have led to indefinite detention of people facing deportation, and for standing with Minutemen vigilantes. He called that notion “ridiculous” and “absurd,” and accused Clinton of picking small pieces out of big legislative packages to distort his voting record.
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