Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump today ruled out a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants and said if elected to the White House he would authorise law enforcement agencies for deportation of those illegal immigrants who have committed crime. Trump, who has called Mexicans “rapists” and “criminals”, said on Fox News that he’s considering letting some undocumented immigrants stay in the country, but wouldn’t support a pathway to citizenship.
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Trump also said that he’ll give an immigration speech “over the next week or two” to clarify his wavering stance on the issue.
Anti-immigrant flamethrower Ann Coulter similarly tried to downplay Trump’s attempted repositioning on the issue, telling the Washington Examiner in an interview that took place after Trump’s campaign manager’s comments but before the candidate’s own, that the campaign’s change in rhetoric isn’t “a change in policy”.
Trump has also urged fewer high-tech visas for foreign workers, tougher penalties for those who overstay visas and an effort to eradicate “sanctuary cities” in the US whose leaders refuse to crack down on illegal immigrants. “Whether you like it or not, he is so weak on illegal immigration, it’s laughable and everybody knows it”. “So we want to stop all illegal immigration”. They catch them, they have them, they know they did it and then they know nothing is going to happen.
Despite saying throughout his campaign he would strengthen immigration controls, Trump has no plans to send new legislation to Congress.
He declined to clarify whether he would try to forcibly deport all these undocumented immigrants, which he has advocated for many months.
Many African-American leaders and voters have dismissed Trump’s message – delivered to predominantly white rally audiences – as condescending and intended more to reassure undecided white voters that he’s not racist, than to actually help minority communities.
Until he ran for president of the United States, Donald Trump supported the Chamber of Commerce’s open borders position.
Chaffetz is the latest Republican to call for Trump to disclose his tax returns, a long-standing tradition for presidential candidates.
At the same event with Hannity, Trump, who over the weekend met with Hispanic advisers, said about his immigration policies: “There could certainly be a softening because we’re not looking to hurt people”. “When you have no governing philosophy, pivots are par for the course. Guess we won’t need Mexico to build that wall”, Tyler added.
At his Austin event, attended by thousands who packed a rodeo arena, some were shouting: “Build the wall” long before Trump even showed up, a reference to the NY businessman’s oft-stated promise to build a wall along the U.S. with Mexico and make Mexico pay for it.
Based on this, Trump’s immigration position is now what people in the room with him cheer for, which isn’t exactly reassuring to, well, anyone. “I think it would be very hard for all of them to be deported”. “I think that’s the right approach”. “It has some problems”. Instead, he proposes quickly sending convicted criminals out of the USA, while considering other individual immigration disputes in court hearings, much like the current US policy. Democratic President Barack Obama’s attempts have failed to bear fruit amid partisan gridlock.
At rallies in North Carolina, Michigan, Virginia and Ohio, Trump asked minorities what they had to lose by voting for him after Democrats had failed them. We have existing laws that allow you to do that.
Overall, 71 percent of those surveyed said undocumented immigrants mostly fill jobs American citizens do not want.
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Attacking illegal immigration was his campaign in its earliest incarnation.
