U.S. 2020: The Democratic Candidates on Security

There are 64,000 gun dealers in the United States. There’s one gun shop in Mexico. Some 70 percent of the more than 132,000 illicit weapons seized in Mexico from 2009 to 2018 could be traced back to the United States. It’s no wonder that Mexico, which is facing unprecedented homicide levels, considers stopping gun smuggling a top priority in bilateral relations. When it comes to the U.S. perspective, security concerns have focused on the migrants and drugs crossing north across the border in the United States rather than the illicit products going south.

Looking past the infamous cries to “build the wall” at U.S. President Donald Trump’s rallies, here’s where the Democratic candidates stood, not just on a border wall, but on issues that affect Latin America, such as drug decriminalization and arms trafficking.

• See their positions on other topics: climate change,immigration, trade, Venezuela.
• This article was originally published on January 31, 2020.
• Lea este artículo en español.

Candidate graveyard

Joe Biden

• The former vice president plans to reallocate resources toward better infrastructure at ports of entry, ending Trump’s national emergency that uses Department of Defense funds for the wall. He has not yet taken a position on whether he supports extending barriers at the border or not, however.
• Biden wants to invest in border technology and improve border screening procedures in cooperation with Canada and Mexico.
• The six-term Delaware senator proposes promoting private investment with the goal of improving security and rule of law and prioritizing economic development in the Northern triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, committing a four-year $4 billion strategy for this area.
• On gun trafficking, Biden has been outspoken on his plan for universal background checks. He also supports reinstating the assault weapons ban—an important measure for U.S.-Mexican relations, given how many of these weapons get smuggled into Mexico. He proposes to direct the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to issue annual reports, which would provide necessary information to identify strategies for combatting firearms trafficking.

Candidate graveyard

These are positions of candidates who have dropped out of the race since this article was first published:

Michael Bennet

• Bennet was part of the Gang of Eight, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators during the Obama administration who sought to usher through comprehensive immigration reform along with a series of measures—from border fence funding to a substantial increase in border patrol agents—intended to bolster border security. The 2013 measure failed in the U.S. House. But Bennet continues to believe that, “Every country in the world, including the United States, has the obligation to secure their border.”
• The Colorado senator is also part of a bipartisan group that introduced the Providing Officers with Electronic Resources Act—better known as the POWER Act—in March 2019, to provide law enforcement with high-tech devices to detect illicit substances like fentanyl, and to help police conduct more effective crackdowns on drug trafficking across the country.
• He supports an assault weapons ban.

Michael Bloomberg

• Bloomberg does not support expanding the border wall and says that the solution to the U.S. border crisis is to “ramp up foreign aid, not just sending a check.”
• On gun policy, the billionaire says he would reverse a Trump measure that would ease firearm export regulations by moving supervision from the State Department to the Commerce Department and making weapon sales easier to foreign buyers. He supports an assault weapons ban.
• Bloomberg’s position on legalizing marijuana is that the states should decide policy at a local level.

Pete Buttigieg

• The U.S. Navy veteran does not support Trump’s budget cuts to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) programs such as airport security, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in favor of a larger border wall budget. Instead, he proposes what he calls “reasonable security measures” at the border, such as creating new facilities for asylum-seekers run by the U.S. Department of Human and Health Services instead of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is under DHS. He also proposes to replace border wall funding with technology-based border solutions that he says would cost $1 to $2 billion.
• On drugs, he suggested to make sure that the United States is doing “what we can to ensure our neighbor to the South is secure," and in a certain scenario he would consider committing U.S. troops to Mexico as a matter of “last resort.”
• The former South Bend mayor says that the United States’ highly militant policing has helped create a black market for drugs, and “part of what we can do is make drug trafficking less profitable by walking away from the failed war on drugs here in the United States.”
• Buttigieg says he would seek to build the federal government’s capacity to tackle gun trafficking. He supports an assault weapons ban.

Tulsi Gabbard

• The Hawaii congresswoman has disagreed with President Trump’s aims to pull funding for military spending to construct the southern border wall, which she called “unstrategic.”
• She supports the legalization and regulation of illicit drugs, saying that the failed war on drugs has had far-reaching, negative results.
• She supports an assault weapons ban.

Amy Klobuchar

• As part of her plan for the first 100 days in office, the Minnesota senator wouldstop Trump’s national emergency declarationand divert funds to other military spending.
• Klobucharco-sponsored the bipartisan Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Actin 2015, which involves partnerships with local governments and private-sector groups tofortify border security and improve infrastructureat U.S. ports of entry.
• She is outspoken on matters of human trafficking and also co-sponsored bipartisan legislation that would seek to combat the use of drugs to control victims of such trafficking, but is unclear on her measures to stop cross-border trafficking.
• Shesupportsan assault weapons ban.

Deval Patrick

• In 2014, Patrick passed a landmark bill in Massachusetts allowing police to withhold gun licenses from targeted threats, and he continues to advocatef or strengthening gun laws in the United States.
• Though he did not support it as governor, Patrick has expressed support for legalizing marijuana at the federal level.

Bernie Sanders

• Sanders has indicated that he is willing to extend border security funding for better screening practices to stem the flow of migrants and asylum seekers.
• The senator from Vermont would support a federal law against gun trafficking. He says he would refocus border enforcement to stop the flow of weapons and drugs at ports of entry.
• Sanders has said that the demand for drugs in the United States is “absolutely fueling Mexican cartels and illegal drug runners” on U.S. soil. He says that the real question to address is why Americans increasingly turn to drugs, and for this matter the country needs more “educational and workplace opportunities.”
• He confirmed he would take executive action to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and legalize it at the federal level.
• He also states that as president he will work to stop human trafficking.
• He supports an assault weapons ban.

Tom Steyer

• The billionaire hedge fund manager aims toinvest in smart border security and increase aid to Central Americato fight the originating causes of the border crisis.
• He opposes extending the border wall.
• He says he would create a new Office of Gun Violence Prevention to coordinate efforts across the entire government and increase funding for executive departments, including DHS.
• He supports an assault weapons ban.

Elizabeth Warren

• The Massachusetts senator proposes to tear down existing parts of the wall that are “not useful in our defense."
• Warren’s plan to commit at least $1.5 billion annually in foreign aid to Central America would fund programs that target crime, fight trafficking, relieve poverty, and combat sexual violence.
• On gun trafficking, she says she would combat the movement of guns across U.S. borders by making firearm trafficking a federal crime,saying, “Gun trafficking across our southern border contributes to gang violence that sends migrants feeling north.”
• Warren would use executive action to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and legalize it nationwide.
• She supports an assault weapons ban.

Andrew Yang

• The tech entrepreneur proposes to work together with border security experts, immigrant advocates, and the Mexican government for maximum border security.
• He wants to invest in technologies like ground and aerial sensors and video towers for stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border that patrolled are less frequently, as well as equip all border patrol agents with body cameras.
• Yang also proposes to stop the flow of illegal drugs from Mexico into the United States, working with the Mexican government on anti-cartel initiatives “to ensure a positive relationship that allows both countries to serve the needs of their citizens.”
• He supports an assault weapons ban.