Donald Trump’s immigration policy and whether he’s softening or pivoting from hardline policies articulated early in his campaign have become a source of some debate in the last few days, since his meeting with Hispanic supporters Saturday.
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“We have a law”. Reports out of that meeting suggested that Trump would change his policy on deportation, and Trump said those reports were wrong. If you come into contact with a federal immigration officer in the course of the lawful exercise of their duties, that immigration officer is legally and duty-bound to carry out a legal proceeding and issue a notice to appear. But Trump’s immigration stance is the heart of his candidacy and is a key issue for many of his most vocal supporters.
A month later, Trump said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that while those “good ones” could come back in through an “expedited” process, they must first be deported.
“So you have somebody who’s been in the country for 20 years, has done a great job, and everything else”, Trump said.
Trump continued to rise in the polls and – despite repeated questions from the media about the financial cost of his plan and the need to deport immigrants whom he vowed to allow back into the country – stuck to his controversial plan. “And by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice”.
In November, Trump explained he would deploy a “deportation force” to carry out his plans to detain and eject millions of people from the USA and cited President Dwight Eisenhower’s injection of manpower and funding to deport undocumented immigrants in 1954.
“Don’t worry. We’re going to build the wall”, Trump told the crowd. “Mexico is going to pay for the wall”.
Where Obama and Trump also differ is that Trump would eliminate the Obama policies that create what the campaign aide said is an “immunity blanket for”.
“This election we’ll decide whether we have a border”, Trump said, vowing again to build a wall on the southern border.
And aides said Tuesday that in the coming weeks Trump was planning trips to urban areas to conduct campaign stops he has largely avoided to this point, including stops at charter schools, small businesses and churches in black and Latino communities.
Trump has also vowed his wall will include “a big, fat lovely door right in the middle of the wall” to allow immigrants to come into the United States legally.
But Trump lamented crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and laid the deaths of American citizens killed by undocumented immigrants at the feet of “the policies of Hillary Clinton and (President) Barack Obama”, before introducing eight mothers who lost their children to undocumented immigrant criminals.
In a June interview with Bloomberg, Trump rejected the characterization of his deportation plan as “mass deportations”.
“We’re going to go through the process like they are now, perhaps with a lot more energy”.
“Donald Trump is wrestling with that issue”, Sessions told reporters. Asked whether Trump would still talk about a deportation force, she claimed Trump “had not said that for a while”.
Trump was set to deliver a major speech on illegal immigration this week, but his campaign made a decision to postpone the address as it continues to craft its policy and the language to deliver it.
The aide argued that Trump has never actually advocated for the type of large-scale raids that come to mind when people hear the words “mass deportation” or remarks about “rounding up” undocumented immigrants.
Asked on Fox News if he was flip-flopping on his immigration ideas, Trump insisted that he still intends to be “strong” while emphasizing the importance of fairness.
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Trump changing positions isn’t new, but a massive change this late would be a big deal.
