It’s still unclear exactly what Trump’s revised immigration plan may look like. And I always say the wall, we’re going to build the wall. The GOP candidate muddied the waters further last night, telling a town-hall audience that undocumented immigrants, under his vision, will have to “pay back-taxes, they have to pay taxes, there’s no amnesty, as such, there’s no amnesty, but we work with them”.
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In several speeches and interviews this week, Trump has backed off his pledge to deport every single illegal immigrant in the United States.
In recent days, he has showed a willingness to soften his tone and stance on what to do about undocumented immigrants.
In July, we asked voters if they wanted a president who supported a path to citizenship.
After a week of muddled messages from Donald Trump and his campaign on his immigration proposals, some immigration hard-liners are wavering between supporting the Republican nominee or trashing his latest attempt to appeal to minority voters. Trump said he plans to lay out his full immigration policy within the next two weeks. In an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” show Wednesday, Trump discussed how tough it is to break up families for deportation, suggesting that maybe upstanding people who’ve been in this country for years should be allowed to stay if they pay back taxes and insisting, just as Bush and Rubio were repeatedly forced to do, that such actions would not amount to “amnesty”. And I, I don’t want – you get embarrassed. “You can’t take 11 at one time and just say, ‘Boom, you’re gone.’ We have to find where these people are”, Trump said in response. On the contrary, it’s quite elucidating: Trump may be confusing everyone with his inconsistent rhetoric, so let’s focus less on what he says and more on what he proposes. We need to sift through the population and deport, for instance, the bad actors who have criminal convictions for violent crimes but not the housekeepers who simply want to provide for their children.
King also said Trump could be in danger of alienating his most fervent supporters by waffling on immigration.
“I understand what you’re saying, but this is sort of like a poll and this is what I’m getting all over the country”, Trump said, looking at some of the people who wanted mass deportation. “You have somebody who is terrific, who has been here … a long time”, he said to the crowd.
“Why not meet with the people and explain what – how he feels and maybe negotiate and see how they feel”.
The upside for Trump was not immediately apparent.
“Talking points are great”, said National Immigration Forum Executive Director Ali Noorani. But Kaine said the Republican presidential candidate has clearly made “bigoted” comments.
“In order to have a productive conversation, Trump needs to clearly articulate his ideas and stop floating trial balloons”, Noorani said. See Trump’s “official” positions on immigration.
His original immigration policy was written with the help of Alabama Sen.
Trump, who also met Thursday in NY with members of a new Republican Party initiative meant to train young – and largely minority – volunteers, has been working to win over blacks and Latinos in light of his past inflammatory comments and has been claiming that the Democrats have taken minority voters’ support for granted.
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“The problem with amnesty is that it rewards illegal behavior, encourages more and makes a mockery of those legal immigrants who play by the rules”.
