Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump proposed building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, forcing all illegal immigrants to leave the country and apply if they want to come back, tripling the number of deportation officers — and paying for it by ending tax credits claimed by illegal immigrants.
The immigration plan, released on Mr. Trump’s campaign website, contains much of the fiery rhetoric the billionaire businessman has become known for as it also calls for the Mexican government to foot the bill for the wall.
“For many years, Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country (as well as in other Latin American countries),” the policy reads. “They have even published pamphlets on how to illegally immigrate to the United States.”
Mr. Trump said he wanted to increase border patrol presence and require businesses to use the government’s currently voluntary E-Verify system to find out who has permission to work in the country. He also said he would strip federal funding from “sanctuary cities,” which do not comply with federal requests to hold illegal immigrants for federal agents to pick up.
Mr. Trump would reverse President Obama’s executive actions halting deportations for millions of illegal immigrants, and said he intends to deport all illegal immigrants if elected, he told Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press.”
“We’re going to keep the families together, but they have to go,” said Mr. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.
Mr. Todd pressed him about the logistics of the plan, asking where the immigrants would go and what would happen if they were forced out of the United States. Mr. Trump brushed off the concerns.
“Chuck, it’ll work out so well. You will be so happy,” he said. “In four years, you’re going to be interviewing me and you’re going to say, ’What a great job you’ve done, President Trump.’ You’re going to say, ’You have done one of the great jobs.’ It’s going to happen. And you know what? The good people are going to be able to come back. But they’re going to come back legally.”
Mr. Trump’s immigration policy reiterates his stance that illegal immigrants affect the economy by leaving American workers — “including immigrants themselves” — unemployed and keeping salaries low, preventing workers from obtaining middle-class wages.
But the legal immigration system also needs to be fixed, Mr. Trump said in his policy outline.
“We need to stop giving legal immigrant visas to people bent on causing us harm. From the 9/11 hijackers, to the Boston Bombers, and many others, our immigration system is being used to attack us,” he wrote.
Another cornerstone of his policy is that Americans should be hired for jobs instead of approving foreign nationals to come in legally and take up employment.
• Anjali Shastry can be reached at ashastry@washingtontimes.com.
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