Bernie Sanders allegedly told a group of Latino activists and politicians in Chicago on Christmas Eve in a closed meeting that as president he would do an end-run around Congress and grant amnesty and then a path to citizenship to millions of illegal aliens in the U.S.

In 2013, Senator Sanders voted for the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the U.S. Senate but was unable to clear the House.

Sanders, an independent socialist from Vermont, is running for president as a Democrat and reportedly trails front-runner Hillary Clinton among Hispanic voters based on polling data. Apparently the premise among Democrats, many Republicans, and the mainstream media is that a particular demographic group shares a monolithic view on the immigration issue.

At the Chicago event, when a community organizer and illegal immigrant questioned him about the issue, “Sanders then proposed to use executive orders to broaden President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA). Sanders said he believes this plan to be within the scope of presidential powers,” the Chicago Reader reported.

In June of 2012, President Obama on his own unilateral authority suspended the deportation under the DACA program of about one million undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. These immigrants are often referred to as “DREAMers” after the DREAM Act that was never voted into law by Congress.

A federal appeals court has blocked a second Obama executive order that would have granted work permits and quasi-legal status, along with access to an array of social services, to millions more illegal aliens, a dispute which appears headed to the Supreme Court.

At least 20 times during his presidency before that, Obama declared that he lacked the legal authority to grant amnesty to undocumented individuals without first obtaining permission from Congress.

Under Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress — not the Executive Branch — is empowered to establish laws relating to immigration. In addition, Article 2, Section 3, indicates that the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed…”

Although Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders generally have the same views on illegal immigration, open borders, and amnesty, some of those in attendance at the invitation-only meeting expressed the belief that Hillary Clinton is insufficiently supportive of illegal alien activism in this country, according to the Chicago Reader.

[Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images]

A recent social media initiative by Team Clinton, called “7 things Hillary Clinton has in common with your abuela,” also apparently backfired with the target audience who thought it was pandering to Latino voters, and prompting #notmyabuela to trend on Twitter

The Bernie Sanders presidential campaign website seems to be consistent with what he allegedly articulated at the Chicago meeting about illegal immigration.

“In a Sanders Administration, a legislative solution to modernize our immigration system will be a top priority. In addition, Senator Sanders will not stand idly by waiting around for Congress to act. Instead, beginning in the first 100 days of his administration, Senator Sanders will work to take extensive executive action to accomplish what Congress has failed to do and to build upon President Obama’s executive orders…”

The website adds that Sanders wants to “Dismantle inhumane deportation programs and detention centers and pave the way for a swift and fair legislative roadmap to citizenship for the eleven million undocumented immigrants…”

Under Sanders’ expanded DACA and DAPA program, “close to nine million individuals would be able to apply for deferred action.”

[Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]

Shortly after news broke recently that the deportations under the Obama administration had fallen to the lowest level in eight years, Homeland Security announced that it is supposedly planing to conduct raids and then deport “potentially hundreds of families that arrived in the United States illegally since last year,” Politico reported, a development that prompted criticism from both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton along with other liberals.

Meantime, another surge of Central American immigrants is ongoing at the U.S. southern border. “A dramatic spike in unaccompanied children and families trying to slip in across the U.S.-Mexico border may be ‘the new normal,’ officials say, with some believing the surge is linked to a federal ruling that ended long-term detentions,” NBC News reported about a week ago.

[Photo by Jim Cole/AP]