The Democratic Party candidates all support a "path toward legalization" that includes certain conditions, including learning English and paying a fine. They also support border security measures such as increased Border Patrol, fencing, and technological surveillance and workplace enforcement.

The candidates differ on offering drivers’ licences to illegal residents (Edwards and Obama support the measure and Clinton opposes it). They all agree on the need to combine workplace enforcement with legalization and labor rights. They have all criticized the rightwing rhetoric that demeans immigrants. On guestworker programs, Edwards opposes them unless they offer a path to citizenship, Clinton says they should “not exploit workers” and Obama states that the jobs must first be offered to U.S. citizens at a decent wage.

There are some differences between Hillary and Obama. I think she's stronger on family reunification. On the guest worker program, while Hillary stresses the rights of the workers, Obama stresses that Americans must be offered jobs first.

Hillary:

According to the Clinton website: "She opposes a guestworker program that exploits workers and creates a supply of cheap labor that undermines the wages of U.S. workers. Hillary believes all workers deserve safe conditions and decent wages. She supports an Ag Jobs program, which will keep our agricultural industry vibrant while enabling agricultural workers to receive the fair wages and labor protections they ought to receive."

Obama:

"Before any guestworker is hired, the job must be made available to Americans at a decent wage with benefits. Employers then need to show that there are no Americans to take these jobs. I am not willing to take it on faith that there are jobs that Americans will not take. There has to be a showing. If this guestworker program is to succeed, it must be properly calibrated to make certain that these are jobs that cannot be filled by Americans, or that the guestworkers provide particular skills we can't find in this country."

Obama offered an amendment to the failed immigration reform bill that "would strengthen the requirement that a job be offered at a prevailing wage to American workers before it is offered to a guestworker."

In another section, Obama says:

"I think that if they are illegal, then they should not be able to work in this country.

In yet another, he says:

As president I will make sure that we finally have the kind of border security that we need. Employers have to be held accountable. When we do those things, we can take the illegal aliens who are here, get them out of the shadows, make sure that they are subject to a stiff penalty, make sure that they're learning English, and go to the back of the line so they're not getting an advantage over people who came here legally."

On drivers' licenses he says:

When I was a state senator in Illinois, I voted to require that illegal aliens get trained, get a license, get insurance to protect public safety. That was my intention. The problem we have here is not driver's licenses. Undocumented workers do not come here to drive. They're here to work. Instead of being distracted by what has now become a wedge issue, let's focus on actually solving the problem that this administration, the Bush administration, had done nothing about it."

Memo to Senator Obama: No human being is illegal. Please refer to those in this country without proper documentation as "undocumented" not "illegal." The terms are not interchangeable. For example, 40 % of our undocumented residents came here legally and overstayed their visas. Thanks, TalkLeft.

On Family Reunification, Hillary:

"We do need to work with the Congress to get legislation that is comprehensive. I am proud to work with Sen. Menendez on trying to make sure that in the process of doing immigration reform, we don't separate families, we try to have family unification as one of the goals. So in addition to giving people a path to legalization, we want to make sure their families can come along with them. There does have to be an intensive effort with our friends to the south to see how the United States can once again be a partner, with a relationship based on mutual respect, where we work together to find ways that we can help them address the needs of the people living in countries to the south. Finally, we have to educate the American people about why immigration is as important today as it was when my family came through into Ellis Island."

There is no section listed for Obama on family reunification.

Hillary on anti-immigrant attitudes:

There are many in the political and the broadcast world today who take a particular aim at our Latino population. And I think it's very destructive. It undermines our unity as a country. There was a particularly egregious example of that in the House-passed bill last year. The House bill tried to criminalize anyone who helped an illegal immigrant, anyone who gave them medical care, any church that opened up to give them food at a dinner or breakfast. And I said that it would have criminalized the Good Samaritan. It would have criminalized Jesus Christ."

There is no section for Obama on anti-immigrant attitudes.

While Hillary and Obama are pretty similar on immigration, as they are on most issues, I give the higher mark to Hillary for her consistent emphasis on family reunification, which is one of the most important factors in my view. In 2004, she was a sponsor of the SOLVE Act(“Safe, Orderly, Legal Visas and Enforcment Act of 2004” or “SOLVE.”) The Solve Act would have granted Legal Permanent Resident status to undocumented workers and their families who had lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years.

She's long opposed harsher penalties for the undocumented and was a harsh critic of the bad, bad border bill H.R. 4437 which would have turned the civil offense of being present without proper documentation into a felony.

For my view on an appropriate immigration reform bill, check out TIRA (TalkLeft Immigration Reform Act of 2009).