This Issue: Yang, arguably the most reasonable Democrat on immigration, ends Presidential candidacy

Primary season is in full swing! Voters from two states have already weighed in on who they believe should represent their respective Parties in this year's presidential election. And we're only a few weeks away from the first set of Congressional primaries, although a few of those states have already begun early voting.

You can view our Presidential Hopefuls ratings here and our Congressional Candidate Comparisons here.

With actual votes now being cast, businessman and entrepreneur Andrew Yang became the latest Democratic hopeful to drop out of the race after disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire. Yang was one of the only Democrats not to endorse a massive expansion of legal immigration.

Yang built his campaign around his concern that America's economy would soon be dominated by automation, forcing millions of Americans out of work. Unfortunately, Yang failed to recognize the harm of adding 1.1 million new legal immigrants with lifetime work permits each year, in addition to hundreds of thousands of guest workers, has on American workers.

But when asked at one of the earlier debates by immigration activist/journalist Jorge Ramos if he would support doubling legal immigration, Yang said he "would return the level of legal immigration to the point it was under the Obama-Biden administration."

Yang failed to realize that the average number of green cards issued during Pres. Trump's first two full years in office is actually higher than the average number of green cards issued each year during Pres. Obama's eight full years in office. But unlike the other hopefuls on the stage who were all pushing for increases, Yang supported the status quo.

The frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders, has essentially adopted an open-border policy after criticizing the idea just a few years ago in an interview with Vox. Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Michael Bloomberg, and Amy Klobuchar have all called for increases in legal immigration. And during a campaign stop in New Hampshire before Tuesday's primary, Pete Buttigieg called for using immigration to grow the populations of small towns.

Tom Steyer and Tulsi Gabbard are the only Democrats left in the race who have not called for more immigration ... yet.

YANG LESS-BAD ON ENFORCEMENT

Don't get me wrong, Yang wasn't great on immigration enforcement; he opposed E-Verify and supported the decriminalization of illegal border crossings. But unlike most of the other Democratic hopefuls, Yang offered support for deportations and stopped short of calling for the complete abolishment of ICE.

Yang also supported funding for border security and didn't rule out additional border fencing. While he opposed the detention of family units who cross the border illegally, he also opposed releasing them into the interior of the country. Instead, he wanted to expand the immigration courts, so their cases could be heard shortly after apprehension.

Yang agreed with all Democrats on granting amnesty to most of the 11 million illegal aliens living in the country, but in a stark difference from most of the other Democratic hopefuls, he opposed healthcare for illegal aliens who aren't on a "path to citizenship."

DEM RACE WIDE OPEN

After finishing second and first, respectively in the first two primary states, Sanders appears to have the inside lane for the Democratic nomination. However, Sanders leads in less than half of the nine Super Tuesday states on March 3, so the race is still wide open.

Regardless of who wins, with Yang out and Steyer and Gabbard failing to pick up any steam, it's a near guarantee that the Democratic nominee for President will support a massive expansion of legal immigration and a suspension of nearly all immigration enforcement.

Chris Chmielenski NumbersUSA Deputy Director