Trump’s remarks on immigration raise questions about enforcement, legalization, and whether Democrats can agree on a plan.
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President Trump was on 60 Minutes on Sunday night and everyone has a reaction. One side is saying that he wants “amnesty.” The other side is saying that Trump is licking his wounds after Tuesday.
What did he say? Here it goes:
Mr. Trump said his immigration crackdown “both helped and hurt” him at the polls. He believes he “got an A+ for closing up the border,” and got “very high marks for getting the bad ones out.”
“But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation, or breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally,” the president continued. “Now, there is a large part of the country that think that they should be put out. And there’s a large part of the country that think that they should be allowed to stay if they’re good people working in a landscaping company, or working in a hotel, or doing something, right? And in some cases, paying taxes.”
He continued: “I think it was too tough.”
“A lot of people would say that it’s great, but a lot of people think it’s too tough,” he said.
So what did he say? He didn’t call for amnesty or massive legalization of people. I didn’t hear that.
I’m 100% supportive of what ICE was doing, but chasing people in cars was counterproductive. At the same time, cities that didn’t cooperate with ICE made their work a lot more complicated too.
So what’s the confusion? I think that most people want the border fixed and immigration laws enforced. They are also open to some pathway to legalization based on good standing, references from an employer, or “work visas.” Here is the truth: Most illegals won’t qualify because you will have a hard time proving that they are paying taxes and may be using false IDs to work.
President Trump may have had something else in mind. Pass a proposal and send it to me. And that’s where the Democrats will fall apart. They don’t have a plan that will satisfy all corners, from the level-headed Rep. Cuellar of Texas to all of those DSA members who want open borders.
So what did he say? Pass a bill, and I’ll consider it. That’s really brilliant!
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