Conway has signaled that Trump might soften his proposal to “round up” the approximate 11 million immigrants in the US illegally with a “deportation force”.
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At Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s Roast and Ride event Saturday in Des Moines, Trump said his focus will be on deporting criminals, not the 11 million people who are in the United States illegally. Trump’s running mate and his campaign manager continued the contradictions in talk show appearances yesterday, seeking simultaneously to reassure conservatives attracted by his hard line on immigration and moderates turned off by it. I guess we’ll have to wait for Trump’s big immigration speech on Wednesday.
In his speech, Trump said he would seek to institute a tracking system to ensure illegal immigrants who overstay their visas are quickly removed, and would propose an e-verify system to prevent the illegal community from gaining access to welfare and other benefits. And late Sunday, the nation’s only African-American owned and operated national Christian television network announced that its president and CEO, Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, would interview the Republican nominee in Detroit on September 3.
Trump should be trying to “convince people that it’s his set policy and that’s where he’s going to stay”, Dowd added. Yet Conway later said Trump remains committed to “making sure that there’s no legalization”.
The magnate plans to give a speech detailing his immigration policy next week, something he has postponed several times in a moment of confusion over his apparent flip-flops on a subject that has won him the most electoral support up to now.
But it’s not clear what he’ll say, apparently even to his top supporters. Pence also did not answer whether the campaign believes, as Trump has said, that children born to people who are in the USA illegally are not US citizens.
After Donald Trump spent a week waffling and “softening” over his immigration policy, I said, “The only thing left is for him to casually tell us that “build the wall” was meant kind of metaphorically all along, and most of it will end up being a “virtual wall” of drones and security cameras”.
In a campaign speech in Des Moines, Iowa, Trump also cited the shooting death of a cousin of National Basketball Association star Dwyane Wade to urge African-American voters to rally behind him, calling it an example of violence that has to be addressed.
Asked whether the “deportation force” proposal Trump laid out in November is still in place, Pence replied: “Well, what you heard him describe there, in his usual plainspoken, American way, was a mechanism, not a policy”.
Ms Kellyanne Conway, Mr Trump’s campaign manager, went even further than Mr Pence, suggesting that Mr Trump no longer favoured the forced removal of illegal immigrants.
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Pence appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union”, Priebus was on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Christie was interviewed on ABC’s “This Week” and Conway was on Fox and CBS’ “Face the Nation”.
