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Hard-line Trump relaunches debate over illegal immigration

Republican presidential nominee is walking a tightrope on issue

By AFP - Sep 01,2016 - Last updated at Sep 01,2016

Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump shake hands after a joint statement at Los Pinos, the presidential official residence, in Mexico City, on Wednesday (AP photo)

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump tried to solidify his statesman bona fides by meeting with Mexico's president, but the angry rhetoric he offered on illegal immigration at a later campaign rally contradicted his seeming willingness to adapt his message.

Was it a crafty political strategy to earn the Republican presidential nominee some diplomatic credibility while ensuring the loyalty of core conservatives? Or did Trump flinch under pressure from the hard right and abandon a bid to moderate his immigration position?

His speech Wednesday night in Phoenix focused in large part on proposals to crack down on illegal immigration, as well as how to handle 11 million undocumented people already in the United States, many of whom he accused of committing heinous crimes or stealing jobs from citizens.

Perhaps cognizant of the logistical and financial challenges, Trump did not commit to forcibly deporting all of America's undocumented migrants, although he starkly warned that "anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation".

The priority will focus on removing immigrants with criminal records, people who overstay visas, and those abusing America's benefits system, he said, promising additional resources to police and border units.

But he fervently ruled out any legal status for the undocumented, even after he briefly floated such an option in recent weeks.

In practice this would mean an extension of a precarious limbo status for millions of migrants, mainly of Mexican origin, who have been waiting for years or even decades to come out of the shadows.

Most Americans favor immigration reform. 

Republican leaders, following their 2012 election defeat, sought to lead their party to a more conciliatory position as a way to broaden their appeal among Hispanic voters. But the effort failed, opposed by the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement.

Today, roughly 77 per cent of voters support some form of legalisation for the undocumented, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday. In July 2015, that figure stood at 64 per cent. In 2010, just 49 per cent favored legalisation.

 

Who pays for wall? 

 

Trump, who for months has trailed Democratic White House rival Hillary Clinton in most polls, is walking a tightrope on the issue, eager to expand his support but reluctant to antagonise his base. 

"There's really quite a bit of softening" on Trump's immigration stance, the candidate told radio's Laura Ingraham Show early Thursday. "We do it in a very humane way."

He stressed that a decision would be made later on how or whether to conduct mass deportations, "once everything is stabilised".

Supporters of immigration reform interpreted Trump's speech differently.

"We were hopeful that Mr Trump would lay out a practical plan to stop future illegal immigration and provide a realistic solution for those currently living here without status," said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, a group founded by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and others in Silicon Valley.

"Unfortunately, Mr Trump failed on both accounts."

The harsh speech cost Trump a defection: Jacob Monty, a member of Trump's National Hispanic Advisory Council, according to Politico. Another Latino conservative backer, Alfonso Aguilar, wrote that he felt "disappointed" and "misled" by Trump.

Democrats meanwhile said Trump's immigration rhetoric showed he is incapable of modulating his position.

"This same speech has been given throughout our history against the Irish, against Italian-American immigrants, against Jews coming from Eastern Europe. It is a deportation nation and they're all criminals and they're doing horrible things," Senator Tim Kaine, Clinton's vice presidential running mate, told MSNBC.

On Thursday during a speech to the American Legion, a large veterans organization, Trump assumed the tone of a future commander in chief, thanking Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto for hosting him a day earlier. 

"We can work together to accomplish great things for both of our countries," he said, while repeating their mutual goal of preserving jobs and industry "in our hemisphere". 

One hiccup on his Mexico jaunt concerned whether Trump told Pena Nieto that he wanted Mexico to pay for the wall that he has insisted will be built on their shared border.

With Pena Nieto at his side, he told reporters they had not discussed the payment issue in their closed-door talks. Later on Wednesday, he insisted Mexico would pay.

 

Hours later, the Mexican leader insisted that he had actually told Trump that his country would not pay. 

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