Chris Christie presidential campaign, 2016/Immigration

	; ; Former presidential candidate; Chris Christie
	Political offices: ; Governor of New Jersey; (2010-2018); U.S. Attorney for New Jersey; (2002-2008)
	Christie on the issues:
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	Donald Trump
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This page was current as of the 2016 election.

Chris Christie expressed support for elements of self-deportation in an interview in the Washington Examiner on January 18, 2016. “I do think that E-verify over time will encourage some people to leave on their own. If they can't get a job here, they can't get work here, a number of them will leave. And that's part of the whole enforce-the-law process that I was talking about before — biometric system at the border on visas, E-verify on employment inside the country, and secure our border at the southern border,” he said.^[1] ^[2]

On November 16, 2015, Christie stated his opposition to New Jersey issuing driver’s licenses to residents who could not verify that they lived the U.S. legally. “I am disturbed by the Legislature even considering making undocumented individuals eligible for New Jersey driver’s licenses. As a former United States Attorney, I know that the driver’s license is the single most important piece of homeland security information. Yet the Legislature proposes giving that to people with no definitive proof of their identity,” said Christie in a statement.^[3]

On September 8, 2015, Christie criticized the mayor of New York Mayor de Blasio’s and President Obama's positions on sanctuary cities and marijuana legalization. “It’s less safe in this city, but to give Mayor de Blasio credit, he’s not the only one who’s doing this, because the president has encouraged this lawlessness. Sanctuary cities across the country, where if you’re mayor and you don’t want to enforce the immigration law? Eh, don’t bother, because the president doesn’t like those laws. You wanna get high in Colorado and Washington, even though marijuana’s against the law in this country? Eh go ahead. It’s coming from the top.”^[4]

On August 29, 2015, Christie recommended tracking immigrants on visas with a system similar to FedEx shipment tracking. “At any moment, FedEx can tell you where that package is. It’s on the truck. It’s at the station. It’s on the airplane. Yet we let people come to this country with visas, and the minute they come in, we lose track of them. … We need to have a system that tracks you from the moment you come in,” he said.^[5]

On September 2, 2015, Christie clarified his comments. He said, “I don't mean people are packages. We should use biometric technology to track people who come as visitors. They are not immigrants, they are not immigrating here. They are here to visit for a period of time, get an education or do something we permit them to do to visit our country, and we should track those people and they should not stay over the period of time they do." ^[6]

Christie expressed support for “Kate’s Law” on August 18, 2015. The bill would institute a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for foreigners who were previously deported and reentered the country without documentation.^[7]

In a radio interview on August 12, 2015, Christie questioned the application of the Fourteenth Amendment, which grants citizenship to any person born in the United States, in modern times. “I think all this stuff needs to be reexamined in light of the current circumstances. [Birthright citizenship] may have made sense at some point in our history, but right now, we need to re-look at all that,” Christie explained.^[8]

Appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation" on August 23, 2015, Christie suggested birthright citizenship was not politically feasible. “It's in the Constitution. And I don't think that we should be looking to change it. Now, what I said was, if we wanted to have comprehensive immigration reform, I would be willing to listen to anything. But the truth of the matter is that that is not something we should be being focused on. That's an applause line. The fact is, it's in the Constitution. Let's talk about the things that we can fix and fix simply, without having to amend the Constitution, where we will need, you know, two-thirds of the Congress and 38 states to agree,” Christie said.^[9]

On August 4, 2015, Christie said E-Verify was more important to immigration reform than a pathway to citizenship because people come to the United States "to work and to support their family" rather than to vote.^[10]

In July 2015, Christie said in an interview on CNN's "New Day," "There should be no special way for anybody to be able to get citizenship any different than any other foreigners." He added a critique of his 2016 presidential rival Hillary Clinton, saying, "I think, you know, Secretary Clinton talks about path to citizenship for people who are here illegally – she’s just pandering."^[11]^[12]

Christie had previously supported a pathway to citizenship in 2010, but explained he now believed people do not come to the United States to vote, they come to work. "And quite frankly, a lot of those folks are been exploited by these employers who are paying them significantly lower wages in order to make a greater profit. Those people need to be penalized for that, and that will be the way to stop the flow from wherever they're coming from, south of the border or elsewhere, into this country illegally," Christie said.^[12]^[13]

In 2014, Christie used his line item veto authority to reject tuition aid grants for undocumented immigrant students who attended state colleges and universities.^[14]

In 2013, Christie signed legislation that allowed undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at state colleges, universities and community colleges. Eligible candidates must have attended a New Jersey high school for at least three years and graduated from that high school. Christie conditionally vetoed a version of the bill that also would have granted in-state financial aid to undocumented immigrant students.^[15]

In 2010, Christie expressed support for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. He stated, "The president and the Congress have to step up to the plate, they have to secure our borders and they have to put forward a commonsense path to citizenship for people."^[13]

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