Democrats running for the presidency have a history of telling illegal immigrants to wait their turn.

Past statements from 2020 candidates like Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren have reemerged as Joe Biden, their rival for the 2020 presidential nomination, faces criticism for expressing similar sentiments at the Detroit debates.

Harris suggested while vying to become California's top law enforcement officer that illegal immigrants should "stand in line." The former prosecutor, who was eventually voted California's first woman and minority state attorney general in November 2010, made the comments in August of that year during an appearance before the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

"As the president has said and I agree, not letting them jump to the front of the line but stand in line like everybody else," she said of then-President Barack Obama and his administration's immigration policy. "So that's where I am on the issue. We need to have meaningful laws around this issue instead of approaching it like ostriches because it's not going away."

Harris, now California's junior senator, made the remarks to the public policy association founded by Hewlett Packard's David Packard when asked how she would handle immigration as head of the state's Justice Department.

"Immigration, as we have designed the systems of government in this country, is within the jurisdiction of the federal government. And I think even the president of the United States has said [that] has been a failing of our federal government, which is to take this issue on and to fix it," said the then-San Francisco district attorney. "There's got to be some leadership. There has to be leadership around recognizing that we have to do what is necessary to enforce the borders, but we also have to do something with the 12 million undocumented immigrants that are in this country, recognizing that it is just not feasible or viable to believe that they're going to quote-in-quote go back. So lets figure out a way to integrate them in a legal way."

Warren echoed Harris' rhetoric in 2012 during her first senatorial bid to represent Massachusetts.

In an August radio interview with WBUR, the former Harvard Law School professor and public school teacher adopted the phrasing while advocating for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

"It's partly about making sure that people obey the law," she said. "It's about saying the people who are here need to be caught up on taxes. They need to go to the back of the line."

The language was repeated on her website as part of her immigration plan.

"There should be a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, but one that would require them to pay taxes and go to the back of the line," she wrote.

Representatives for Harris and Warren's 2020 campaigns did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner's requests for comment.

The resurfacing of the video and audio clips follow the Biden camp having to mitigate concerns voiced by immigration activists after the former vice president recommended during his July 31 debate that illegal immigrants "get in line."

"When people cross the border illegally, it is illegal to do it unless they're seeking asylum. People should have to get in line. That's the problem," he said in Detroit. "And the only reason this particular part of the law is being abused is because of Donald Trump. We should defeat Donald Trump and end this practice.”

Politico reported Wednesday that Latino leaders last week at the annual UnidosUS conference in the San Diego, California, pressed Biden on his remarks. A readout of the meeting provided by Biden's campaign described it as "a meaningful dialogue," during which he "made clear that America is a nation of immigrants."