Bernie Sanders for 'comprehensive' immigration reform

Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders has fired a fresh salvo at the Republicans over open borders while stating that she is in favour of "comprehensive" immigration reform.

Sanders, who is also one of the Democrats in the fray for the presidential post in the next year's elections, said at a rally here, "I'm afraid you may be getting your information wrong. I think what we need is comprehensive immigration reform."

"Oh my god, there's a lot of poverty in this world, and you're going to have people from all over the world. And I don't think that's something that we can do at this point. Can't do it," he was quoted by The Washington Post as saying.

Interestingly, Sanders' comments came after the 77-year-old Vermont senator was criticised during campaigning for the 2016 presidential polls, where he had opposed a comprehensive immigration overhaul bill in 2007 over issues that it would depress wages and hurt the interests of the American workers.

Notably, Sanders has not released an outline for immigration policy for his 2020 presidential campaign.

US President Donald Trump, who declared a national emergency in February for getting his wall built at the US-Mexico border, has frequently dubbed the Democrats as "the party of open borders".

On February 19, Sanders announced that he will be contesting in the 2020 presidential elections, marking his second consecutive bid for the Democratic nomination after losing to Hillary Clinton in 2016.