Alfonso Aguilar, a prominent Hispanic surrogate for Donald Trump, announced Thursday he had officially withdrawn his support from the Republican presidential nominee following his immigration speech in Phoenix.
Mr. Aguilar, president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles advocacy group, said he expected Mr. Trump to soften his approach to people living in the country illegally.
“For the last two months he said he was not going to deport people without criminal records. He actually said that he was going to treat undocumented immigrants without criminal records in a humane and compassionate way,” Mr. Aguilar, the former chief of the U.S. Office of Citizenship under former Republican President George W. Bush, told CNN.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday showed no signs of softening his stance, vowing “no amnesty” for illegal immigrants and promising to build an “impenetrable” border wall with Mexico. Mr. Aguilar said the plan is “even worse” than what Mr. Trump initially proposed.
“They’re going to leave the country, self-deport or be removed, and there’s no guarantee that they will return,” Mr. Aguilar said. “I mean that speech was a restrictionist speech. And I just think he’s embraced Jeff Sessions and people like Ann Coulter and forgotten about building a coalition to win this election. I’m so sorry, but I just can’t be part of that.”
But he insisted he’s not going to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton either.
“I mean, people who think that [Mrs. Clinton’s] committed to immigration reform, she’s misleading them just like Donald Trump misled us,” he told CNN. “So, look, I don’t think we have a good choice right now. I think I have to talk to our coalition of leaders and figure out, you know, what our next step is, but certainly, it’s not going to be to support Trump nor Hillary Clinton.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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