One by one, Trump laid out his policies that include, building a wall along the southern border, a pledge to end the catch and release program, adding more border patrol personnel and having a deportation task force to deport criminals in the country illegally. In what was otherwise a positively received visit – drawing praise even from some Trump critics such as Bill Kristol and former Hillary Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson – it stuck out like a sore thumb. Trump speaks to that change in popular sentiment more directly than the journalists who scream racism every time a politician talks tough on border sovereignty. Going forward, undocumented immigrants arrested for committing a crime would be placed into immediate deportation proceedings.
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“There will be no legal status or becoming a citizen of the United States by illegally entering our country”, Trump declared, even has he sidestepped the dilemma about what to do with those who might stay in the country anyway – failing to address the major question that has frustrated past congressional attempts at remaking the nation’s immigration laws.
“Day one, my first hour in office, those people are gone”, Trump said in Phoenix. “Those days are over”.
He vowed to create a “deportation task force” within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division “focused on identifying and quickly removing the most unsafe criminal illegal aliens in America”. “I am going to create a new special deportation task force focused on identifying and quickly removing the risky criminal illegal immigrants in America who have evaded justice”, he said.
In his speech on immigration later in the evening, Trump returned to his hardline positions, reiterating that undocumented immigrations threaten the physical safety of Americans and saying that Mexico would pay for the wall, even if “they don’t know it yet”.
Only after all the “bad guys” are gone, a border wall is built, and new policies are installed for those seeking to enter the country, would he consider what to do with what he estimated are 9 million people living in the U.S. illegally and not breaking any additional laws. And of course, to get Mexico to pay for it.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best”, Trump said. “We didn’t discuss”, Trump had said when asked by a reporter during a news conference following their meeting in Mexico City. Pena remained silent on the issue at the event, but said later on Twitter he did raise the issue.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump walks with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the end of their joint statement at Los Pinos, the presidential official residence, in Mexico City, Wednesday, August 31, 2016.
Declaring that “this election is our last chance to stop illegal immigration”, Donald Trump promised Wednesday night that “there will be no amnesty” if he is elected president.
In his speech, the Republican candidate said he’d work to deport undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes on “the first hour of Day One” of his presidency.
His words started a debate whether it’s a flip-flop or softening his stance. Mr. Trump delivered a 10-point plan on immigration.
Republican nominee Donald Trump outlines his plans for immigration reform, staying close to numerous hardline proposals that earned him the GOP nomination.
Trump: Wall and who pays didn’t come up.
This would be his way of carrying out his proposed ban on Muslims from some countries without getting into their religious affiliation.
A Fox News poll out Wednesday shows the race has narrowed with Clinton leading Trump 41 to 39 percent.
Some members of a council Trump formed last month to advise him on Hispanic issues expressed reservations about or cut ties to the NY real estate developer’s candidacy after the Phoenix speech.
Listening to the speech, marveling at the about-face maneuver, one could nearly hear the spirited debate within the councils of Trump’s campaign. “That risk, that threat, must be confronted”.
The 70-year-old real estate baron argued that having a secure border is a sovereign right and is mutually beneficial for both countries. There were several protests in Mexico City against his visit. Imagine a President Trump meeting privately with world leaders on issues ranging from trade to security, lying about the substance of their conversations and then delivering an entirely different message at home as though there are no television cameras or Internet.
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Pena Nieto did say that Mexicans felt “aggrieved” and had disagreements with Trump, but most felt that it was not enough.
