Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump now says his plans for dealing with millions of immigrants living in the United States illegally will be to continue doing what President Obama is doing but “perhaps with a lot more energy.”
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Trump has previously suggested taking a hardline approach to combating illegal immigration that included proposals such as a “deportation force” to round up and deport millions of people living in the country illegally and constructing a wall between Mexico and the U.S.
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But in an interview with Fox News Monday night, the GOP nominee outlined a new strategy after meeting with Hispanic activists. Trump indicated he would consider allowing those who have not committed crimes, beyond their immigration offences, to obtain legal status, similar to policies currently in place by the Obama administration.
“The first thing we’re going to do if and when I win is we’re going to get rid of all of the bad ones,” Trump told host Bill O’Reilly. “We’ve got gang members, we have killers, we have a lot of bad people that have to get out of this country. We’re going to get them out, and the police know who they are. They’re known by law enforcement who they are. We don’t do anything. They go around killing people and hurting people, and they’re going to be out of this country so fast your head will spin.”
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He further explained how he would deal with “everybody else,” nonviolent undocumented immigrants.
“What people don’t know is that Obama got tremendous numbers of people out of the country. Bush, the same thing,” Trump said. “Lots of people were brought out of the country with the existing laws. Well, I’m going to do the same thing.”
“As far as the rest, we’re going to go through the process, like they are now, perhaps with a lot more energy, and we’re going to do it only through the system of laws,” Trump said later in the interview.
The statements further muddle his immigration policies and whether or not the GOP candidate in reversing course on one of his key issues.
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Trump had been scheduled to deliver a speech on immigration Thursday in Colorado, but has postponed it.
Last weekend, Buzzfeed reported Trump had spoken with a newly announced Hispanic advisory council about a “humane and efficient” way to work with undocumented immigrants currently in the country.
Trump insisted in a separate Fox interview on Monday he was not “flip-flopping.”
“I’m not flip flopping,” the Republican presidential nominee said. “We want to come up with a fair but firm process. Fair but firm.”
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