Trump backers claim shift in his immigration rhetoric
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this photo taken July 1, 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Denver. As he turns his attention to the general election, Donald Trump is signaling that he is ready to tone down his fiery rhetoric on illegal immigration at least behind closed doors.
CLEVELAND >> As he turns his attention to the general election, Donald Trump is signaling that he is ready to tone down his fiery rhetoric on illegal immigration — at least behind closed doors.
At the same time, Republican officials appear eager to push him in a more moderate direction, telling Hispanics that he has abandoned his divisive primary pledge to deport the estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally — even if Trump hasn’t said so publicly himself.
“Trump has already said that he will not do massive deportations,” Helen Aguirre Ferre, the Republican National Committee’s director of Hispanic communications, told reporters at a Spanish-language briefing at the party’s convention two weeks ago. Instead, she said, “he will focus on removing the violent undocumented who have criminal records and live in the country.”
It’s a statement that may come as a surprise to Trump’s legion of loyal followers, many of whom were first drawn to Trump because of his hard-line views on immigration and border security. Trump has vowed to build a wall along the length of the southern border and use a “deportation force” to track down and deport anyone in the country illegally.
“You’re going to have a deportation force, and you’re going to do it humanely,” Trump said in a TV interview last fall. He estimated in a separate interview that the process would take between 18 months to two years.
But those who would like to see Trump move in a more inclusive direction say that Trump has indicated that he no longer advocates that plan. As evidence, they point to several vague sentences from an interview Trump gave earlier this summer to Bloomberg News during a whirlwind trip to Scotland to visit his golf courses.
“President Obama has mass deported vast numbers of people — the most ever, and it’s never reported. I think people are going to find that I have not only the best policies, but I will have the biggest heart of anybody,” Trump told the outlet. Pressed on whether he would issue “mass deportations,” Trump responded: “No, I would not call it mass deportations.”
“We are going to get rid of a lot of bad dudes who are here,” he was quoted as saying.
It remains unclear whether Trump was taking rhetorical or ideological issue with the phrase, and Trump has not made similar comments at any point since. Asked how he would manage the deportations at a press conference in Florida Wednesday, Trump said only, “We’re going to have a whole policy on that over the next three weeks.”
This kind of ambiguity is not unusual for Trump, whose vague statements often leave room for numerous, sometimes conflicting interpretations.
But for some who are supporting Trump and want to see him moderate, the meaning is clear.
“Two or three weeks ago, (Trump) conceded in an interview in Bloomberg in which he said the term ‘massive deportation’ is not used by him, and it was planted by a journalist,” said the head of Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, Alfonso Aguilar, who recently signed a letter along with several other Latino conservatives endorsing Trump.
Aguilar said that he had seen in Trump’s comments “something very interesting, which can be the beginning of an openness toward the center on immigration. He said he wants to remove only people with criminal record, not people without criminal record. It could be the openness toward a legalization.”
A similar interpretation has also developed among Hispanic and religious leaders who have met with Trump privately in recent months. Trump, they say, has been signaling that he is open to embracing a less punitive immigration policy that focuses on “compassion” along with the rule of law. Seizing on what they see as an opportunity to steer the candidate, several have formed an informal advisory committee that has been working on a series of recommendation they hope to Trump will consider.
“He realizes that there are a lot of good people that are in the shadows. He wants some proposals on how to work on that,” said Ohio-based televangelist Frank Amedia, who is helping to lead the effort.
Hillary Clinton told “Fox News Sunday” that her priority if elected would be to deport violent criminals and those linked to terrorism.
“But don’t go rounding up hard working mothers and fathers, taking them out of the factories or the hotels or the homes where they’re working, making them disappear and leaving their children alone,” she said. “That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
A record 27.3 million Latinos will be eligible to vote in the 2016 presidential elections, according to the Pew Research Center. While much of Trump’s backing comes from white males, he could gain an advantage in a tightening race if he makes gains with this critical demographic.
Trump, Amedia said, has expressed interests in a plan that would quickly deport “the undesirables” from the country. But the group has also been exploring various options to deal with the millions of otherwise law-abiding immigrants living in the shadows, who are often afraid to report crimes or abuse for fear of deportation.
“It’s not satisfactory for them to stay in that position,” Amedia said. “They too need to have a recourse where they can walk out of the shadows and into the light.”
Pastor Herman Martir, the president Asian Action Network, who is also involved in the effort, said that after meeting recently with the candidate to discuss his community’s concerns, he expects to see a “change of tone in terms of being inclusive.”
“I think because of that dialogue, he understood the need to put together something that will work for everybody,” he said. “The approach is more compassionate, not so much about gathering everyone and pushing them aside and turning them back.”
33 responses to “Trump backers claim shift in his immigration rhetoric”
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Lying sack of poop…Donald “phony’ Trump. Need a car I got a payment plan you will love.
“were” you a Donald Trump supporter? lol
Don’t you guys ever get tired of eating Crooked Hillary’s spoon fed poop?
I love when I see supporters of either candidate call the other a liar. It’s just so funny to me that they cannot see the irony in that. Ever heard of the pot and the kettle?
You mean Keaukaha?
Will the “real” Donald Trump please stand up? No, because there is no real Donald Trump, only the wet rag blowing in the breeze of the audience of the moment. I will never understand how Trump supporters can consider Hillary Clinton dishonest, and yet completely ignore the constant stream of lies that Trump spews daily.
It’s called negotiation tactic #1: Start out with a high expectation with the knowledge that you will get something less. Trump supporters need to understand this….he is a business man not a politician and this is why I am voting for him. I am sick of the rosy talk and flag waving (our country is great) nonsense that up until now, both parties have vomited out during their conventions. Trump has a new approach and it’s worth a 4 year trial…at least we know we will get our money back in less taxes!
He is a liar,cheat and crook. I wouldn’t hire him to be my janitor.
Aren’t you tired of eating all this spoon fed baby poop the Democrats are feeding you?
Wonder what you’d call Hillary:
Lying to a mother whose son died in the Benghazi attack(smh)
Lying about landing in Bosnia under sniper fire(smh)
Lying about not having “any” classified material on her personal server(smh)
Deleting 30k emails prior to giving up her personal server to the FBI
Gowdy: Good morning, Director Comey. Secretary Clinton said she never sent or received any classified information over her private e-mail, was that true?
Comey: Our investigation found that there was classified information sent.
Gowdy: It was not true?
Comey: That’s what I said.
Gowdy: OK. Well, I’m looking for a shorter answer so you and I are not here quite as long. Secretary Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her e-mails sent or received. Was that true?
Comey: That’s not true. There were a small number of portion markings on I think three of the documents.
Gowdy: Secretary Clinton said “I did not e-mail any classified information to anyone on my e-mail there was no classified material.” That is true?
Comey: There was classified information emailed.
Gowdy: Secretary Clinton used one device, was that true?
Comey: She used multiple devices during the four years of her term as Secretary of State.
Gowdy: Secretary Clinton said all work related emails were returned to the State Department. Was that true?
Comey: No. We found work related email, thousands, that were not returned.
Gowdy: Secretary Clinton said neither she or anyone else deleted work related emails from her personal account.
Comey: That’s a harder one to answer. We found traces of work related emails in — on devices or in space. Whether they were deleted or when a server was changed out something happened to them, there’s no doubt that the work related emails that were removed electronically from the email system.
Gowdy: Secretary Clinton said her lawyers read every one of the emails and were overly inclusive. Did her lawyers read the email content individually?
Comey: No.
Gowdy: Well, in the interest of time and because I have a plane to catch tomorrow afternoon, I’m not going to go through any more of the false statements but I am going to ask you to put on your old hat. Faults exculpatory statements are used for what?
Comey: Well, either for a substantive prosecution or evidence of intent in a criminal prosecution.
Gowdy: Exactly. Intent and consciousness of guilt, right?
Comey: That is right?
U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy
Once you get away with Lying it gets easier to do so and they begin to believe their lies even moreso in the future. She’s a Lawyer, good schooling and watnots and you want me to believe she didn’t know what she was doing? A migrant illegal or not I’d give em a possible pass not knowing or understanding the English language, Hillary doesn’t fall into that category! hahahahahahaha, wait, does she speak fluent Spanish or whatever foreign language? If she does speak a different language fluently she’d could weasel her way out of the lies, you know. But at this point she’s just sidestepping her lies, doesn’t want to face the scrutiny. Can’t wait for the Debates! TheDonald will cream her over with pointed instances of her lies! I’d bet even not answering questions posed to him and falling back to question her on her lies! hahahahahahahahahaha
He wouldn’t work for you. Trust me.
Narcisstic Personality Disorder
3. Name-Calling. This is the last resort of bullies, such as NPD/BPD women. Because they can’t intelligently defend their position or their behaviors, they resort to emotionally-based personal attacks. It’s another distraction technique that sidetracks you from the original point of contention by disorienting you and putting you on the defensive.
“Narcissistic Personality Disorder…Name Calling…distraction technique that sidetracks you from the original point….”
You are talking about Donald J, correct? Those are from Page 1 of his campaign strategy manual, correct?
Truth hurts.
Who exactly is Trump negotiating with here? Himself? He’s not in a position to negotiate; he’s simply running for office. On the one hand Trump supporters claim that Trump is great because he’s “not beholden to political interests”, and then once Trump changes his tune due to the influence of the Republican power structure, he’s somehow a “great negotiator?” You realize that “something less” deportation plan that you claim Trump is shooting for is exactly the same deportation policy that Obama follows? And yet somehow Obama is a failure and Trump will make everything great “again?” It’s inconceivable that thinking people really believe this dribble.
Trump is not the kind of businessman who builds for the long term. He’s a hustler who looks for opportunities he can jump on for quick profit and recognition. He doesn’t know how to run a business once it’s started. The USA is a HUUUGE business that needs a steady CEO, and Trump just isn’t that kind of businessman.
I suspect he is aware of his limitation in that respect. Unconsciously (maybe consciously?) he may be trying to NOT win the election. But it’s like when George Costanza found that things often work the opposite of what you’d expect — he tried to get fired but got a promotion, tried to insult a woman and she found him attractive, etc. It’s a sick, twisted situation.
That’s all we need – a steady hand. We already had that for 7 1/2 years.
Lol, this is getting real funny. Now trumpf is a puppet with GOP saying” We love Latino’s”. “I was ,We was, just joking”. “I Alone have given Latino’s thousands of Jobs”. Lol.
Does that mean no wailing wall??? The Great Wall worked for China–they have no Mexicans.
The heck with everything. Throw out 11 million illegals and no more traffic jams and housing shortage!
Americans 1st! why allow illegal migrants to work in the US. Even Thailand has better laws being enforced on immigrant seeking a job there.
Crooked Hillary went from in house to out house. Bernie made sure of that. He made her bark like a dog. She’ll say and do anything (Obama2008). Now that he’s out of the way, Bernie who? Be careful what you ask for. Don’t you guys ever get tired of eating her spoon fed poop?
ummm, his company’s hired a lot of Latinos and still does today
Hang on Mexico you won’t have to pay the full amount for the wall. He will go 50-50.
They won’t deport all the immigrants. This country will be in sad shape if they do cause lots of Americans don’t like the kind of jobs that the immigrants are doing.
trumpy is a pathological liar. he is no flip flopping on his statements, he cannot be trusted, he will say one thing and do another thing. and this bird wants to be president? phooey. and his is a tax cheat that is why he does not want to release his tax returns. who wants a president who does not pay his fair share and wants others to pay? Hillary may not be perfect but this bird is so much worse.
Actually, it’s his supporters who are HOPING that Trump flip flops in this matter (and a few others). As long as he continues to say things that make no sense, he’ll be stuck with only a certain amount (more than there should be) of non-thinking voters on his side.
Right about Hillary, she’s not perfect but certainly much better than Donald J. Fingers crossed…
“she’s not perfect” has to be the understatement of today’s debates…
Within days they the democratic machine states that the email hacking divulging the DNC chairperson was the work of the Russians and Trump. Never heard the democratic machine say anything of that nature over months and months of so called investigations of Clinton’s email server.
Wikileaks is responsible as stated by some which you can view his interviews on youtube. CNN has a clip on youtube of Julian A. who is the head of Wikileaks discussing the DNC. Wikileaks has the 30,000 emails from the Clinton’s server and has yet to share those classified information in details. He is under the protection of a country’s embassy in Europe for approximately the last 4 years. Start viewing these reports / interviews on youtube and make your own conclusions.
What do the top ten cities (over 250,000 pop.) with the highest poverty rate
all have in common?
Detroit, MI – (1st on poverty rate list) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor
since 1961
Buffalo, NY – (2nd) hasn’t elected one since 1954
Cincinnati, OH – (3rd) not since 1984
Cleveland, OH – (4th) not since 1989
Miami, FL – (5th) has never had a Republican mayor
St. Louis, MO – (6th) not since 1949
El Paso, TX – (7th) has never had a Republican mayor
Milwaukee, WI – (8th) not since 1908
Philadelphia, PA – (9th) not since 1952
Newark, NJ – (10th) not since 1907
A vote for Crooked Hillary is a vote for poverty.
Super Delegates