“Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation”, Trump said in a highly anticipated speech hours after his surprise meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
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His tense global trip on Wednesday saw Trump navigating a political tightrope just 69 days before the election.
To stem the flood of illegal immigration, Trump pledged to enact new “ideological certification to ensure those admitting to our country share our values and love our people”.
Shortly after the joint appearance, a dispute arose over the most contentious part of the billionaire’s plans to secure the USA southern border and fight illegal immigration – his insistence Mexico must pay to build his promised wall.
Later in Phoenix, Trump painted many illegal immigrants as murderers, which served as red meat to his mainly white supporter base.
But Trump didn’t address what he would do about millions more who might remain under his approach – the major question that has frustrated past congressional attempts at remaking the nation’s immigration laws.
While Trump had told reporters in Mexico he and Pena Nieto did not discuss who would pay for the proposed border wall, the Mexican leader – after staying silent as Trump did so – tweeted, “I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall”.
If true, Kaine said, Trump “sort of folded under pressure”. It came after a week in which he seemed to shift his positions on using a “deportation force” to remove approximately 11 million undocumented workers from the country.
Anyone living in the country illegally who is arrested “for any crime whatsoever”, he said, will immediately be placed into deportation proceedings.
Trump is also accusing President Barack Obama and his rival Hillary Clinton of engaging in a “gross dereliction of duty” for supporting more liberal immigration policies.
“There was never any pivot”, said Doug Heye, a former Republican National Committee spokesman who has been critical of Trump.
“For those here illegally today who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only: to return home and apply for re-entry like everybody else under the rules of the new legal immigration system that I have outlined above”, Trump said.
Trump met with Mexico’s president earlier Wednesday and said they did not discuss who would pay for the massive wall that has been at the center of Trump’s campaign.
“There is only one core issue in the immigration debate, and that is the well being of the American people”, Trump said.
“They don’t know it yet they are going to pay for it”.
Televisa news anchor Carlos Loret de Mola marveled that Trump would dare come to Mexico and reiterate his intention to build the wall.
He talked about beatings and stabbings of young women, then said simply, “It’s not going to happen anymore”.
Still, Trump laid out a series of tough policies to tackle illegal immigration when he delivered his speech in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday night.
Trump launched his campaign with a speech that accused Mexico of sending its rapists and criminals across the border.
“Hate and racism is part of the history of this country we don’t want to repeat”, said Jocelyn Sida, Nevada director of Mi Familia Vota.
For the past few months, Trump’s campaign has been in the habit of making a big production over the kinds of policy addresses that credible presidential candidates are supposed to deliver as often as they kiss babies. ABC says the six-figure ad buy will begin with the campaign’s previously released spot titled “Role Model”, which shows children watching Trump’s comments on women, guns and minorities.
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“This is an insult and a betrayal”, said artist Arturo Meade as he joined a protest against Wednesday’s meeting in Mexico City.
