"And when he did show up, his record was troubling."

[Chichiri]

Think about 2005 and 2006, when House Republicans were devising harsher and harsher measures to deport and criminalize immigrants and had passed the Sensenbrenner Bill – the notorious HR 4437 bill – that would have deported everyone and made criminals of families, care-givers, bus drivers and priests who had contact with undocumented immigrants. Where was Sanders? He was mostly silent when we needed champions to defend our community.

And worse, at a few critical moments in 2006, he broke with Democrats and progressives and stood with the hardline anti-immigrant wing of the Republican Party.

(...)

The opponents of legal immigration – the most extreme wing of the anti-immigrant movement, took notice. NumbersUSA, the far-right group that wants fewer immigrants in the US, praised Sanders for opposing visas that would allow people to work legally in seasonable jobs at resorts and hotels.

Even Representative Steve King, one of the most staunchly anti-immigrant members of Congress, stated, “I admire Bernie’s passion and I notice that his immigration position is closer to mine than it is [to] some of the presidential candidates on the Republican side.”

By Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), posted at Univision: http://www.univision.com/noticias/opinion/luis-gutierrez-sanders-voted-with-republicans