During a surprise visit with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Trump lavished praise on America’s southern neighbor and pointedly avoided publicly insisting that Mexico pay for the wall he’s pledged to build along the U.S. -Mexico border.
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Trump appeared to back burner plans for mass forced deportation, but immigration advocates don’t buy that.
In the news conference, Trump said payment wasn’t discussed.
He said the easier path would have been to “cross my arms” and do nothing in response to Trump’s “affronts, insults and humiliations”, but he believed it necessary to open a “space for dialogue” to stress the importance of the U.S. -Mexico relationship, the Associated Press reported.
“He said, ‘Yes, ‘ and he thought we would be very pleased on Wednesday”, said Suarez.
Trump laid out his 10-point immigration plan in a speech in Phoenix on Wednesday night.
Trump supporters at the Wilmington rally said they approved of the candidate’s immigration policies but moderate Republicans in Arizona, where Latinos make up more than 30 percent of the population, told Reuters they were less swayed by his message.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers an immigration policy speech during a campaign rally at the Phoenix Convention Center, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, in Phoenix.
Clinton’s vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine said Trump “didn’t have the guts to look the Mexican president in the eye and bring up the central position in the campaign”.
If Trump’s entire exercise of the last twenty-four hours was to reassure his primary base that he was not wavering on an issue that is so crucial to them, he accomplished his mission.
Alfonso Aguilar, president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, had prominently endorsed Trump after initially opposing his candidacy.
Any person living in the country illegally who is arrested “for any crime whatsoever”, he said, will immediately be placed into deportation proceedings.
Trump also promised to keep U.S.jobs for Americans and deny benefits to undocumented immigrants, much to the chagrin of Hispanic business leaders. “I really think now he’s definitely going to lose”.
But Agular said Thursday: “I’m withdrawing my support. The “National Hispanic Advisory Council” seems to be simply for optics and I do not have the time or energy for a scam”.
Mark Gonzalez, founder of the Hispanic Action Network, had also expected Trump to go in a different direction.
Clinton begins September with more than $68 million in the bank to use against rival Donald Trump. “We tried”, he said. Trump said during a joint press conference afterward that the subject of who would pay for his proposed border wall was never discussed. “You don’t always win”.
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“What I know is that Mexico will not pay a single cent if they want to build a wall on that side of the border”, he added.
