Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is considering a trip to Mexico to meet that country’s president, hours before his long-awaited speech on immigration on Wednesday, a media report said. The president’s office said the.
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Such a visit would be clouded with resentment and heated feelings over Trump’s xenophobic campaign promises which include building a wall on the border with Mexico in order to stop immigrants he called “rapists and criminals” from coming to the United States.
In meetings recently with Hispanic supporters, Trump had suggested he could be open to allowing some people living in the country illegally to stay. After one such roundtable this month, his new campaign manager said Trump’s stance on deportations was “to be determined”.
The Republican presidential nominee’s surprise trip south of the border comes as debate about his hardline immigration policies is reaching fever pitch.
In the days since, Trump and his staff have broadcast varied and conflicting messages, with Trump himself saying one day he might be open to “softening” his stance, and days later saying he might, in fact, be “hardening”.
The Mexican government, which has bristled at Trump’s threats to wall off Mexico and tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement, also confirmed the meeting in a tweet, saying Trump had agreed to meet Pena Nieto in private.
Mr Pena Nieto has previously accused Mr Trump of hurting US-Mexico relations and compared the Republican’s rhetoric to that of German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
The Mexico trip looked to be the type of dramatic, Trump-style event to ensure he dominates the headlines as he tries to further close a gap in national opinion polls that now favors his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Also on Wednesday, Trump will unveil his new immigration policy.
According to the Post story, the possibility of a trip by Trump was first raised with the USA embassy in Mexico City earlier this week, a source said.
Trump is scheduled to hold fundraisers Wednesday morning in California and deliver his immigration speech in the evening at the Phoenix Convention Center. “He has said we should force Mexico to pay for his giant border wall”.
This will be Trump’s first meeting with a head of state.
Another is that Mr Trump’s base, the voters who cheered as he called undocumented Mexican immigrants “rapists” and “drug dealers”, will consider this visit consorting with the enemy.
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