Confirming that he is open to the idea of “softening” on his controversial proposal to deport 11 million illegal immigrants, Donald Trump now says that, if elected President, he may follow the existing laws on the issue, much like the Obama and Bush administrations, but a lot more energy.
Trump, who is in the midst of a massive course correction on his signature campaign theme in the wake of daunting poll numbers, provided a peek into his “evolving” immigration policy at a rally in Texas on Tuesday night, followed by an interview-cum-town hall meeting hosted by Fox News.
Faced with the dilemma of having to win over Hispanic voters without alienating the hardcore Republican voters who are all sold on his tough immigration plan, Trump virtually spoke in two voices at the two back-to-back events.
At the rally, held in Austin, Trump was his usual self, vowing to build a wall along the southern border to keep out new waves of illegal immigrants and making Mexico pay for it. He also promised to act tough with those already in the US and have committed various crimes, including murders of American citizens.
In contrast, Trump sounded more sympathetic when asked in his interview about chances of accommodation in respect of long-time illegal residents, who are law-abiding and have raised families in the US.
“There could certainly be softening because we’re not looking to hurt people,” Trump said, adding: “We want people. We have some great, great people in this country. But we’re going to follow the laws of this country…we have very, very strong laws.”
Specifically on deportations, he said that he would come out with a decision very soon. Yet, he indicated that as President, he would want to follow the existing laws that have been followed by the Obama and Bush administrations. Both have deported illegal immigrants, he said, adding: “Now, we can be more aggressive on that but we want to follow the laws.”
“If you start going around trying to make new laws in this country it’s a process that’s brutal. We want to follow the laws of the country, and if we follow the laws we can do what we have to do,” commented Trump, who had spent nearly 14 months of his campaign holding forth on mass deportations and building the wall.
When it was put to him that many people, including former Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, are convinced that the wall will not be built, Trump shot back that it will be built “100 per cent”, adding: “A wall is gonna be built. It’s easy….We’re going to have very, very tough standards.”