Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence shot down the idea Tuesday that Donald Trump wants to deport all non-criminal illegal immigrants, while warning that Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine want open borders and amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Mr. Pence said Mr. Trump will fix the nation’s immigration system by securing the US-Mexican border and beefing up internal enforcement.
“Donald Trump has laid out a priority to remove criminal aliens, and people who have overstayed their visas, and once we have accomplished all of that, which will strengthen our economy, strengthen the rule of law in our country, and make our communities once the criminal aliens are out, then we will deal with those that remain,” Mr. Pence said.
The issue of immigration has been central to Mr. Trump’s candidacy. He has won scores of fans with his promised to build a wall along the nation’s southern border.
Mr. Kaine, meanwhile, said Mrs. Clinton’s plan will focus on violent illegal immigrants and border security and will offer a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
And he said Mr. Trump’s plan is worse than Mr. Pence led on.
“Donald Trump proposes to deport 16 million people,” Mr. Kaine said, adding that Mr. Pence and Mr. Trump also want to end birthright citizenship. “Donald Trump has said ’deportation force.’ They want to go house to house, school to school, business to business and kick out 16 million people and I can’t believe that Gov. Pence would sit here and defend his running mate’s plan that we should create a deportation force.”
Mr. Pence said Mr. Kaine’s comments were “nonsense.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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