Civil Liberties
Richardson believes that preserving American civil liberties is extremely important. In particular, he has pledged to end the use of torture. Richardson has said:
"America is too great of a nation to support such retrograde measures such as torture. There is no place for torture, water boarding, Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo in American policy or law. As president, Bill Richardson will work to restore American greatness by putting an end to these inappropriate (and ineffective) policies and by following the Geneva Conventions."
Richardson is also strongly against wiretapping. In October 2007, he urged the U.S. Senate to reject a bill that would provide immunity to telecommunications companies who helped the Bush administration secretly eavesdrop domestic telephone calls and computers from 2001 through 2007.
Bill Richardson campaign website
Richardson urges Senate to reject telecommunications wiretapping immunity bill, Blog Talk Radio, October 24, 2007
Immigration
Richardson is opposed to the building fence on the U.S.-Mexico border. He believes that such a policy "divides families" while doing nothing to actually solve America's immigration problems.
He favors guaranteeing human services to illegal immigrants, and believes that illegals should have "...a process where they can earn their way into America. They can do it by learning English, by paying back taxes, by passing a background check, by paying a fine for having come in here illegally. Then get behind those that are trying to get here legally, and then increase the legal immigration quota, the H1-B visas."
Richardson is adamantly against wholesale deportations of immigrants. In his words, "...that makes no sense. That's not America; that's not going to work. "
Transcript of Democratic Presidential Debate, August 26, 2007
Richardson on the Issues
Iran
Richardson believes that it would be dangerous to the United States for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. But he also believes that military force should be a last resort in preventing this. In a February 2007 article in the Washington Post, he wrote:
"Saber-rattling is not a good way to get the Iranians to cooperate. But it is a good way to start a new war -- a war that would be a disaster for the Middle East, for the United States and for the world. A war that, furthermore, would destroy what little remains of U.S. credibility in the community of nations."
"A better approach would be for the United States to engage directly with the Iranians and to lead a global diplomatic offensive to prevent them from building nuclear weapons. We need tough, direct negotiations, not just with Iran but also with our allies, especially Russia, to get them to support us in presenting Iran with credible carrots and sticks."
Diplomacy, Not War, With Iran, Washington Post, February 23, 2007
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