The announcement came late Sunday in a tweet by the Republican presidential nominee after days of wavering – and at least one canceled speech – on a question central to his campaign: Whether he would, as he said in November, use a “deportation force” to eject the estimated 11 million people in the US illegally.
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It also underscores how little his Republican campaign has invested in the nitty-gritty of outlining what he would do as president, especially when compared with the more detailed plans of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. He insisted that such a plan would not amount to the “amnesty” that’s anathema to many core supporters of the Republican Party.
Trump’s immigration speech in Arizona will come after he and Clinton spent last week trading accusations on racial issues.
Clinton is starting this week by announcing her proposals for dealing with mental health issues.
Immigration issues dominated the Sunday talk shows as Trump’s surrogates, led by running mate Mike Pence, discussed his approach.
Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani said Thursday that the tycoon’s pivot on mass deportations was partly attributable to Christie.
Brian Fallon, press secretary for the Clinton campaign, told Business Insider that they are not “confirming or denying any of the various reports of who may play Trump at debate prep”. Any discussion of inconsistencies or potentially non-presidential tweeting, Pence and others suggested, reflected media focus on the wrong issue.
Trump is now planning a major speech Wednesday, during which he’s expected to finally clarify his stance.
In that rally, he referred to Trump as a “jagoff” – a demeaning slang term frequently used in western Pennsylvania – during the event. Pence also did not answer whether the campaign believes, as Trump has said, that children born to people who are in the US illegally are not USA citizens.
But lately, Trump has been exploring the issue’s complexities.
Ms Kellyanne Conway, Mr Trump’s campaign manager, went even further than Mr Pence, suggesting that Mr Trump no longer favoured the forced removal of illegal immigrants.
For more than a week now, as he’s tried to shine the spotlight on his rival, Trump has appeared to wrestle with one of his signature proposals: A pledge to expel everyone living in the US illegally with the help of a “deportation force”.
Clinton also noted that David Duke, the white supremacist who is running for U.S. Senate from Louisiana, has endorsed Trump and “he is the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan”.
The speech has been rescheduled at least once.
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“He wasn’t softening on anything”, Donald Trump Jr told CNN when asked about how his father recently appeared to survey a Texas campaign crowd over what he should do about the nation’s roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants. Asked if Mr Trump still sought a “deportation force”, which he called for a year ago, Mr Pence said Mr Trump was speaking of “a mechanism, not a policy”.
