March 10--REPORTING FROM MIAMI -- Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders sparred over who has been more friendly toward immigrants during their debate on Wednesday night, one day after a surprise victory by Sanders in Michigan pointed toward a prolonged contest for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Both candidates pledged not to deport children and stated their support for a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who are in the country illegally, but they soon began picking apart each other's records on the issue in hopes of using the debate co-hosted by Univision, a Spanish-language network, to make inroads with Latino voters. The debate was broadcast in English and Spanish.
Clinton criticized Sanders for voting against bipartisan immigration legislation nearly a decade ago and accused him of siding with the Minutemen, a notorious vigilante group that was "setting up outposts along the border to hunt for immigrants."
Sanders rejected the attack by saying Clinton was misconstruing his positions by plucking individual provisions out of large, complicated pieces of legislation.
"I do not support vigilantes," he said. "And that is a horrific statement -- an unfair statement."
He also defended his stance on immigration legislation by saying the bill he opposed in 2007, sponsored by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, included a guest-worker provision that lacked necessary protections for workers.
"Where people came in, they were cheated, they were abused, and if they stood up for their rights they would have been thrown out of the country," he said.
Sanders pointed out that Clinton had urged detention last year for Central American children who had fled their home countries to seek asylum in the U.S.
Clinton defended her stance, saying that she was seeking to deter others from embarking on the journey north because she was worried about the peril of young children making the treacherous trip. She had urged that all of the asylum seekers be given legal counsel, she noted.
The conversation was a stark reminder of the wide gulf between Democrats and Republicans, whose presidential candidates have emphasized increasing border security or deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally.
"We have a secure border," Clinton said. "There's no need for this rhetoric and demagoguery."
Some of the intense focus on Latino issues has been driven by Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner who has described Mexican immigrants as criminals and pledged to build a wall along the border.
Asked whether they consider Trump to be a racist. Clinton called the GOP's front-runner's rhetoric "un-American."
"You don't make America great by getting rid of everything that made America great," she said.
Sanders also sidestepped the racism question, but noted that Trump had been a leading "birther," who questioned whether President Obama was born in the United States and eligible to serve as president.
"Nobody has ever asked me for my birth certificate," Sanders said. "Maybe it has something to do with the color of my skin."
Asked once again to address the probe into her email practices as secretary of State, Clinton insisted she had done nothing improper and that the decision by the government to retroactively classify some of her emails was incorrect.
"What we've got here is a case of over-classification," she said, explaining that her predecessors also used personal email accounts, and also had emails retroactively deemed classified.
"I am not concerned about it, I am not worried about it, and no American should be either."
Moderator Jorge Ramos pointedly asked whether Clinton would drop out of the race if she were to be indicted.
"Oh for goodness -- it is not going to happen," she responded tersely. "I'm not even answering that question."
Sanders entered the debate emboldened by his surprising victory in Michigan on Tuesday, where the insurgent senator from Vermont hammered at international trade agreements that he says have cost manufacturing jobs in the industrial Midwest.
It's an issue that he could use to his advantage again with primaries coming up in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri as well as Florida and North Carolina.
His message of economic populism includes harsh criticism of trade policies pushed by Clinton's husband, Bill, when he was president in the 1990s. Hillary Clinton has tried to emphasize the rising incomes and growing prosperity Americans enjoyed during that period.
Pressed on what went wrong for her in Michigan during the debate, Clinton emphasized that she had continued to increase her delegate lead.
"This is a marathon," she said. "And it's a marathon that can only be carried out by the kind of inclusive campaign that I'm running -- a campaign that reaches out to everybody."
Sanders, bolstered by strong fundraising from small-dollar donors, said he expected to continue notching victories in the coming weeks and months. He also has his eye on so-called superdelegates, the elected officials and party leaders who can choose which candidate to support. The overwhelming majority of them currently support Clinton, but Sanders said he would convince them "that Bernie Sanders is the strongest candidate to beat Donald Trump."
The result in Michigan indicated that Clinton may not be able to secure the nomination as soon as she had hoped. While she hasn't called on Sanders to drop out of the race, she has begun prodding Democrats to unite behind her in preparation for a general election battle.
Even though Sanders has dug in his heels, the math looks difficult for him going forward. Clinton has won 214 more delegates than Sanders in caucuses and primaries. When superdelegates are included, Clinton has more than twice Sanders' number.
"We have sought to compete everywhere, in every state, with the goal of amassing the most delegates possible," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said.
Mook said that the campaign expected Sanders to compete heavily in Illinois, Missouri and Ohio, but that Clinton should be able to expand her delegate lead even if Sanders performs well in those states. Clinton seems likely to prevail in Florida and North Carolina.
"We are confident we're nearing the point where our delegate lead will effectively become insurmountable," he said.
Megerian reported from Sacramento and Memoli from Washington. Times staff writer Melanie Mason contributed to this report from Miami.
For more on Campaign 2016, follow @ChrisMegerian
