Donald Trump continues to move the Republicans right on immigration:
Donald Trump would reverse President Obama’s executive orders on immigration and deport all undocumented immigrants from the U.S. as president, he said in an exclusive interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd.
“We’re going to keep the families together, but they have to go,” he said in the interview, which will air in full on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this Sunday. Pressed on what he’d do if the immigrants in question had nowhere to return to, Trump reiterated: “They have to go. We will work with them. They have to go. Chuck, we either have a country, or we don’t have a country,” he said.
The ironic thing is that based on his immigration policies alone, Trump is less of a joke candidate than the so-called “serious” candidates. The only reason he has become such a story is because all of the other Republican candidates are so absurdly terrible on the issue of the 40-year invasion of the country.
Trump’s actual announced policies:
Real immigration reform puts the needs of working people first – not wealthy globetrotting donors. We are the only country in the world whose immigration system puts the needs of other nations ahead of our own. That must change. Here are the three core principles of real immigration reform:
1. A nation without borders is not a nation. There must be a wall across the southern border.
2. A nation without laws is not a nation. Laws passed in accordance with our Constitutional system of government must be enforced.
3. A nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation. Any immigration plan must improve jobs, wages and security for all Americans.
And the big one: “End birthright citizenship.”
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens if his support grows following this announcement, especially in light of his plan to require higher wages for H1B visa holders. But regardless, it is obvious that the romantic view of America as “the Melting Pot” is now dead. And notice that everything he is talking about could have been brought up by any of the other candidates, but wasn’t.