While Donald Trump insists the wall along the U.S.’s southern border is “100 percent” going to be built, he is voicing openness to “softening” the laws dealing with people who are living in the country illegally.
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The Republican presidential nominee made the comments – a pivot away from his hardline stance on immigration during the primaries – while taping a Fox News town hall event with Sean Hannity in Austin, Texas, Tuesday afternoon.
Hannity interrupted: “Is there any part of the law that you might be able to change that would accommodate those people that contribute to society, have been law-abiding, have kids here?”
“Our government has totally failed our African-American friends, our Hispanic friends, and the people of our country period”, Trump said. “We’re not going to let it happen to our country”. So but we’re going to follow the laws of this country.
In a June tweet, Trump maintained his support for the deportation of the 11 million people in the US illegally.
Trump, who postponed an immigration speech originally planned for Thursday in Denver, said he would stop some major cities’ practice of providing sanctuary for illegal immigrants and stop immigrants from overstaying their visas. Trump’s remarks about “a softening” were also confirmed by a person there.
Speaking before Trump’s campaign rally in Austin, Texas, Tuesday night, Alabama Republican senator and longtime Trump ally Jeff Sessions tried to parse Trump’s words, saying he was softening his position on the “legality” of illegal immigration.
Following the law means illegal aliens will have to go back to their native countries, Hannity told Trump.
“We’re going to enforce the laws that are on the books today”, Pence said.
Trump was referring to his meeting Saturday he had with Hispanic leaders in NY. “The immigration people do such a great job, but they have no leadership at the top”. But as for the “great people” who “shouldn’t be here”, Trump said again, “We want to follow the laws”. “We have to do it in a humane way, but we have to have a country”.
Speaking to supporters in Akron, Ohio, Monday evening Donald Trump continued his appeal to minority voters by saying that inner cities were more unsafe than “war zones”. “And you know Bush, and even Obama, sends people back”.
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But Obama has called for comprehensive immigration reform legislation to provide a path to citizenship for the majority of those in the US illegally-a position held by many Republicans but repeatedly rejected by Trump over the course of the campaign. Pressed on what he meant, Sessions said Trump is “wrestling with this issue”. In general, Clinton is leading Trump by a wide margin in finances – $140 million cash in hand among her campaign, joint funds and allied organizations at the end of July to Trump’s $78 million, per the Wall Street Journal.
