Trump promised to introduce a monitoring system that would make it easy to remove illegal immigrants who overstay their visas. “Big crowds, looking for a larger venue”, Trump, who had postponed an immigration speech originally planned for last Thursday in Denver, said in his tweet on Sunday.
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Pence and other Trump surrogates insisted the GOP presidential nominee has been “absolutely consistent” on his immigration policy and in coming weeks will outline more details that line up with his principles of tightening US laws in a “humane” way.
His surrogates and allies struggled on Sunday talk shows to explain his position.
Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson says none of it is really that complicated, however.
“He has not gone to a black church, as Hillary Clinton has done”, she said.
After a turbulent week, Donald Trump is trying to refocus his position on one of his campaign’s tentpole issues: immigration.
Trump expanded on the latest iteration of his policy in Iowa Saturday, suggesting deportation would be reserved for criminal elements while vowing to crack down on visas and entitlements.
So has he scrapped the idea of removing all undocumented immigrants from the country?
During an interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press“, host Chuck Todd asked Priebus whether Trump still supported ending birthright citizenship.
Trump said his first priority upon taking office next January would be the immediate deportation of thousands of illegal immigrants who remain in the United States despite having committed crimes. “We’re going to see what happens”.
“On Day One, I am going to begin swiftly removing criminal illegal immigrants from this country – including removing the hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal immigrants that have been released into USA communities under the Obama-Clinton administration”, Trump told supporters in Des Moines, Iowa.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Trump’s vice presidential running mate, made an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” to reaffirm Trump’s commitment to enforcing the laws already in place, bolster border security and end the existence of sanctuary cities.
“Well, what you heard him describe there, in his usual plainspoken, American way, was a mechanism, not a policy”.
“I’ m not sure if it’s by design or an inability to help himself, but Trump seems to have let every opportunity to make this a referendum on Clinton and continued Democratic leadership in the White House slip away with a comment that draws attention to himself or raises questions about his leadership”, he said. “He put this issue at the center of his presidential campaign in the Republican primary”.
“He did simplify it”.
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Said Todd: “It is sort of remarkable that we don’t know”. And that has always been the underpinning of his policy along with the building of the wall on the United States-Mexican border. However, after a campaign shakeup this month, Trump’s new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said a mass deportation effort is “to be determined” after reports surfaced about Trump’s softer rhetoric with a meeting of his Hispanic advisors group.
