Trump Retreats From Deportation of 'Terrific People' Who Live Here Illegally

After the border is secured, the president-elect says, "we're going to make a determination" about undocumented immigrants.

CBS News

When Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign in June 2015, he described Mexican immigrants as "people that have lots of problems," including drug traffickers, rapists, and other criminals. He graciously added that "some, I assume, are good people." Last night on 60 Minutes, by contrast, Trump said most undocumented immigrants are "terrific people," although 2 million or so (about 18 percent) are criminals who need to be locked up or deported. That is no mere change of emphasis, since Trump is no longer talking about deporting all 11 million unauthorized residents of the United States, along with their U.S.-citizen children.

When Lesley Stahl asked Trump about his "pledge to deport millions and millions of undocumented immigrants," the president-elect said, "After the border is secured and after everything gets normalized, we're going to make a determination on the people that you're talking about, who are terrific people." That stance is consistent with the immigration "softening" that Trump mentioned last August. Back then he admitted that some immigrants who live in this country without the government's permission are "great, great people" and suggested he was open to legalizing them. Although there would be "no citizenship" and "no amnesty as such," he said, if they "pay back taxes" he would be willing to "work with them."

Appearing on CNN's State of the Union yesterday, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) confirmed that Trump does not intend to carry out the sort of mass deportation he frequently advocated during his campaign. "I'm a person who believes that, for the undocumented, we have to come up with a solution that doesn't involve mass deportation, that involves giving people the ability to get right with the law to come and earn a legal status while we fix the rest of legal immigration," Ryan said. "I think we should put people's minds at ease. That is not what our focus is. That is not what we're focused on. We're focused on securing the border….We are not planning on [creating] a deportation force. Donald Trump's not planning on that."

If Trump really has given up on deporting all unauthorized immigrants, he may simply be acceding to reality. As the American Civil Liberties Union noted last July, "Trump's mass deportation scheme would mean arresting more than 15,000 people a day on immigration charges, seven days a week, 365 days a year." Even if that were practical, the ACLU observed, "there is no conceivable mechanism to accomplish the roundup that Trump has promised while respecting basic constitutional rights."

Comments

[AlmightyJB]

So you're saying his immigration policy will be a vast improvement over Obama's?

[Suthenboy]

The only place that will be mentioned is in the comments.

Add in his policy on term limits, 2A, corruption, federal regulations, taxes, and on and on.

[Jickerson]

2A? Does he still say that people on the no-fly list shouldn't be able to buy guns?

[Hugh Akston]

Actually it will be pretty much the same.

[AlmightyJB]

That's what I was alluding to.

[Citizen X]

Last night on 60 Minutes, by contrast, Trump said most undocumented immigrants are "terrific people,"

Hang on, do you mean to imply that the blustery blusterer was blustering? Unpossible!

[LynchPin1477]

Not surprising. It will be interesting to see if his hardcore supporters react. My guess is that they won't care since they are committed now, much like Obama supporters gave/give him a pass for not following his campaign promises to a "T".

[loveconstitution1789]

He won partly because of tough immigration policy. If he falters, he will be a one-term president.

[T.F.G.]

Most of the people who voted for Trump are not all that tough on immigration.

[Robert]

His hardest-core supporters never believed that. His detractors pretended to.

[MikeP2]

Nope. most of his supporters understood that it is a bargaining ploy. Deporting everyone was never a realistic endeavor.

Deporting the criminals, securing the border, then a defined path to citizenship for the rest, and Trump will be applauded. Watch him maintain his supporters and gain >50% of the Hispanic vote in 2020.

[DesigNate]

That would be pretty freaking hilarious.

[SRVolunteer]

As the American Civil Liberties Union noted last July, "Trump's mass deportation scheme would mean arresting more than 15,000 people a day on immigration charges, seven days a week, 365 days a year."

Is the ACLU a reliable organization for this data? Is this one of those 'static analyses' where you assume that they rate of border crossings isn't going to change even though enforcement of immigration law means it costs money to get into the country that can't be earned back on this side?

One of the officers in my rescue organization had a son killed by an illegal immigrant with multiple arrests under various names. The drunk driver is in prison now, but maybe better immigration enforcement would have had the drunk driver deported after his first, second, or third arrest. His name changed over and over because illegal immigrants form a market for false IDs, but his fingerprints never changed, and he was fingerprinted at every arrest. A system with better enforcement would have noticed upon the second arrest that he had already been arrested once and switched IDs instead of showing up to court for the first arrest, right?

[Cyto]

"Trump's mass deportation scheme would mean arresting more than 15,000 people a day on immigration charges, seven days a week, 365 days a year." Even if that were practical, the ACLU observed, "there is no conceivable mechanism to accomplish the roundup that Trump has promised while respecting basic constitutional rights."

Or... you could simply enforce existing employment law. I know I've had to jump through all manner of hoops gathering and preserving proper documentation on people's legal right to work. Yet somehow entire industries manage to survive on what is a largely illegal immigrant labor pool.

I think it would take a few weeks of actual enforcement of the law as written to shut off employment opportunities (and simultaneously shut down swaths of agriculture and construction, among others).

And then we'd probably go ahead and implement something like Bush II's suggested immigration reform, since we really would rather not go without fruits and vegetables and live in houses without drywall.

[HazelMeade]

When a libertarian start talking about all the paperwork they have to do to ascertain a persons right to exchange money for labor and the law enforcement necessary to go along with that, you would think at some point that the thought "what's wrong with this picture?" might occur to them.

[Crusty Juggler]

"Trump's mass deportation scheme would mean arresting more than 15,000 people a day on immigration charges, seven days a week, 365 days a year." Even if that were practical, the ACLU observed, "there is no conceivable mechanism to accomplish the roundup that Trump has promised while respecting basic constitutional rights."

It's called deputizing every white person, because Big Daddy is going to need all the help he can get.

Uppersheriff Crusty Juggler, reporting for duty.

[Citizen X]

Hey, us white folks elected him because RACISM, so we all need to step up.

[loveconstitution1789]

When Lesley Stahl asked Trump about his "pledge to deport millions and millions of undocumented immigrants," the president-elect said, "After the border is secured and after everything gets normalized, we're going to make a determination on the people that you're talking about, who are terrific people." That stance is consistent with the immigration "softening" that Trump mentioned last August.
So, you get immigration softening from Trump?

You people will never get it do you? There is nothing in his statements that he is going to be soft on illegal immigrant deportations. Like the media who didn't see Trump winning, you fail to see that you open borders types lost and Trump will push his agenda, not yours.

[Brochettaward]

Does anyone really think that Paul Ryan is in a position to confirm what's on Trump's mind?

[Citizen X]

Hell, i'm not even sure Trump is in a position to do that.

[Alan Vanneman]

So Trump didn't mean any of the terrible things he said? I wonder why that would be true.

[loveconstitution1789]

Well, take the media's interpretation of what Trump said with a grain of salt.

He will be deporting millions of illegal immigrants.

Commence open border supporter's head explosions!

[HazelMeade]

I wonder how he expects to find all 3 million illegal aliens with criminal records. It would be fairly easy for them to melt back into the black market, get new fake identity papers, and change residences.
Most likely the reason they haven't been deported already is because the government doesn't know where they are.

[MikeP2]

criminals gonna commit crimes. If arrest = immediate deportation then the problem will kinda solve itself, won't it?

[HazelMeade]

Yes, I'm sure every illegal alien with a criminal record is going to do the government a favor by committing more crimes, and then arranging to get caught doing it.

[DesigNate]

Since most criminals are pathetically stupid (or just really shitty at not getting caught), it's probably a safe bet that at least some of those criminal illegal aliens will commit more crimes.

[HazelMeade]

Yes, and they are already getting deported when they do. And yet there are supposedly still 3 million of them. Amazing. So how do we round up and deport the 3 million criminal illegal aliens again?

[DesigNate]

Where did I say we should? I was just pointing out that they do actually do the government a favor and commit more crimes.

[Adans smith]

Ha,reality sets in. Imagine that. On the S.C, 2ed amendment,taxes executive orders climate 'agreement' and regulations I'm good with that. On trade and S.S and Medicare he's awful . Hopefully reality will set in on trade. S.S. and M.C has so many defenders that we're screwed there.

[wef]

"Mexican immigrants"

Why not leave the tendentiousness to the huffingtons?

[lafe.long]

So... do I need to be shitting my pants or not?

...or should I just wait for Shikha's next article?

[HazelMeade]

If I believed two words that came out of Trump's mouth this would be good news.
I fully expect him to be saying something different next week, if not in 24 hours.

[MikeP2]

gonna be a long 4 years for ya, isn't it?

[HazelMeade]

It's been a long 24. The last president I kinda liked (just slightly) was Bush I.

[0x90]

The funny thing is that the right will care far less than the left, whenever he backtracks like that.

[PapayaSF]

Cut off funding for sanctuary cities, end welfare for illegals and their children, and enforce E-Verify, and you don't need a giant deportation force dragging millions of people into vans. Illegals got here under their own power, and they can leave the same way.

[HazelMeade]

So you mean don't let illegals drive on road or go to the hospitals and don't let their kids go to school. Cause I'm constantly told that despite the fact that illegal aliens are already forbidden from receiving welfare, they are still collecting it in the form of roads and schools and emergency rooms.

[Tak Kak]

Weren't they forbidden from entering the country as well?

[HazelMeade]

Yes, so I'm sure ending welfare for illegals (again!) is going to make them go home voluntarily.

[Tak Kak]

Just like with entering the country, they receive welfare, in part, because the governments don't really really care that they receive it. They may even encourage it in some cases (like John Podesta saying illegals can vote).

[The Laissez-Ferret]

They're getting welfare and food stamps too. My mom worked for social services for twenty years, and as long as they get an ID, legal ID or forged, they get "benefits".

[HazelMeade]

If your mom is knowingly handing out benefits to people with forged IDs then she's breaking the law.

[DesigNate]

"Cut off funding for sanctuary cities"

That's a great way to fuck over the people that live in those cities but don't agree with their policies.

[Citizen X]

The worst Hitler who ever Hitled.

[loveconstitution1789]

Hitler ain't no Stalin!

Now Stalin knew how to exterminate tens of millions of Russians and other people with the media and useful idiots to cover for him.