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Trump Moves to the Center: I Support Amnesty
Director Blue ^ | 1/13/2016 | Marc Thiessen

Posted on 02/12/2016 2:12:41 PM PST by conservativejoy

Trump's supporters loved his promise this week to create a "deportation force” to remove all 11 million illegal immigrants living in America, and his repeated declaration that everyone here illegally will “have to go."

But his supporters tend to overlook is his other promise - repeated in a recent debate - that under his immigration plan "they will come back."

That's right. Under Trump's immigration plan almost all of 11 million illegal aliens (save for a small minority with criminal records) will get to return and get permanent legal status to stay here in America.

Trump supports amnesty.

On the Kelly File Thursday, Trump's son Eric expressed frustration that the media overlooks this:

The point isn't just deporting them, it's deporting them and letting them back in legally. He's been so clear about that and I know the liberal media wants to misconstrue it, but its deporting them and letting them back legally.

Eric Trump is right. His father has been crystal clear that he wants all the illegals to return and live in America.

Listen closely to what Trump is actually proposing. In an interview with CNN's Dana Bash earlier this year, Trump explained his plan this way:

I would get people out and then have an expedited way of getting them back into the country so they can be legal. A lot of these people are helping us ... and sometimes it's jobs a citizen of the United States doesn't want to do. I want to move 'em out, and we're going to move 'em back in and let them be legal.

This is a policy called "touchback" and it was first proposed in 2007 by moderate Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX). She offered a "touchback" amendment on the Senate floor that would have required illegal immigrants to return to their home countries to apply for a special "Z visa" that would allow them to reenter the United States in an expedited fashion and work here indefinitely.

Her amendment lost by a relatively close margin, 53-45. It was supported by most Republicans and even got five Democratic votes - Sens. Claire McCaskill, Max Baucus, Jon Tester, Byron Dorgan and John Rockefeller all voted for it.

The idea was considered so reasonable that in an April 22, 2007 editorial entitled "Progress on Immigration," the New York Times declared:

It's not ideal, but if a touchback provision is manageable and reassures people that illegal immigrants are indeed going to the back of the line, then it will be defensible.

So what Trump is proposing today - sending illegal immigrants back to their home countries and then allowing the "good ones" to return in an "expedited" fashion - was endorsed by the liberal New York Times!

In fact, the idea even got the support of - wait for it - illegal immigrants.

In 2007, the Los Angeles Times did the first telephone poll of illegal immigrants and asked whether they would go home under a "touchback" law that allowed them to return with legal status. Sixty-three percent said yes, 27% said no and 10% were undecided. If they were promised a path to citizenship when they returned, the number who said they would leave and return legally grew to 85%.

Donald Trump's detractors were aghast at his invocation during the Fox Business debate of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Operation Wetback" which forcibly removed 1.5 million illegal immigrants, and his promise the following day to establish a "deportation force" to remove the 11 million illegal immigrants living in America today.

Never mind the fact that we already have a "deportation force" - it's called US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The fact is, Trump won't need a "deportation force" or an "Operation Wetback" to get illegal immigrants to go home - because he has promised that they can return quickly with legal status.

The vast majority of illegal immigrants say they would voluntarily cooperate with Trump's plan.

If anything, the "touchback" plan Trump endorses was attacked by conservatives back in 2007. In an editorial, National Review called touchback a "fraud" that gives illegal aliens “their own privileged pathway” ahead of "applicants who have complied with US immigration laws."

That is precisely what Trump is proposing. Under his plan, illegal aliens don't have to go to the end of the line behind those who have complied with our immigration laws. They get an "expedited way of getting them back into the country so they can be legal." They get to cut the line and then stay in America.

So if you get past Trump's bluster, the plan he is proposing is so liberal that it earned the support of the New York Times and the opposition of National Review.

The reason is simple: Trump's plan is in fact a form of amnesty - you just have to leave the country briefly to get it.

So when Trump says of illegal immigrants "they all have to go," don't overlook the fact that under his plan almost all would be able to immediately return – and stay.

This means there is very little difference between his plan and what John Kasich and Jeb Bush are supporting.

And most of his supporters don't even realize it.


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: 1stcanadiansentor; amnesty; bs; cjtds; gangof14post; propagandadujour; tedspacificpartners; theycomeoutatnight; trump; usualsuspect
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To: conservativejoy
Are you behind the Nigerian astronaut scam?
101 posted on 02/12/2016 3:16:53 PM PST by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life's tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: conservativejoy

LOL


102 posted on 02/12/2016 3:18:53 PM PST by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life's tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: Heart of Georgia
believe this is going to be the compromise: Take the 30 million or so that are here illegally and give them legal status, as long as they come out into the open. If this happens, hopefully they will never be given a path to citizenship!

Trump says "no" to citizenship.....although it's somehing he "would think about". And he says "Later down the line, who knows"

One can hope, but Trump uses weasel words when he talks about citizenship.

Link

103 posted on 02/12/2016 3:30:35 PM PST by FreeReign
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To: altura

I want to rid the country of the one party oligarchy. The way to do that is to contest the media. The media is the mouthpiece for the globalist cabal; their talking points rule the national discussion.

Only Trump has rippled in their pond. Only Trump scares them to death. He has already made a political dream of mine come true, which definitely raises my trust.


104 posted on 02/12/2016 3:35:03 PM PST by Yaelle
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To: tirednvirginia

“Yes, they will be deported and yes, they can come back but only through legal channels.”

The qualifier Trump has used is “some” will come back.


105 posted on 02/12/2016 3:37:14 PM PST by odawg
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To: conservativejoy

I would suggest that Trump clear this up for good tomorrow night.


106 posted on 02/12/2016 3:38:45 PM PST by odawg
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To: AmericanVictory

Well Eisenhower was a man of substance. Donnie, not so much.


107 posted on 02/12/2016 3:41:51 PM PST by gov_bean_ counter (Trump to McCain - "Pass the strawberries".)
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To: gov_bean_ counter

Of course, any fool can build the buildings, developments, golf courses and other things he has built. It clearly takes no ability. Why don’t you go out and build something the equivalent of, say, Trump Tower.


108 posted on 02/12/2016 3:45:30 PM PST by AmericanVictory (Should we be more like them or they more like we used to be?)
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To: AmericanVictory

Not impressed by this mobbed up blow hard.


109 posted on 02/12/2016 3:47:49 PM PST by gov_bean_ counter (Trump to McCain - "Pass the strawberries".)
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To: AmericanVictory

Not according to his own words. He would let them back in an expedited fashion, head of the line.


110 posted on 02/12/2016 3:50:41 PM PST by Eagles6 ( Valley Forge Redux. If not now, when? If not here, where? If not us then who?)
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To: conservativejoy

Another Lie

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/immigration-reform


111 posted on 02/12/2016 4:13:38 PM PST by stocksthatgoup (Trump for me. I want to see Hillary, Bernie or any demoncrap crushed)
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To: conservativejoy

Liar

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/immigration-reform


112 posted on 02/12/2016 4:14:23 PM PST by stocksthatgoup (Trump for me. I want to see Hillary, Bernie or any demoncrap crushed)
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To: stocksthatgoup
Trump: I'll Bring Back Good Illegal Immigrants Rapidly"
113 posted on 02/12/2016 4:29:55 PM PST by conservativejoy (Pray Hard, Work Hard, Trust God ...We Can Elect Ted Cruz)
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To: conservativejoy
People just don't understand. If it's not on the first page of the Donald's twitter account he has probably had a fundamental change since then.
114 posted on 02/12/2016 4:44:01 PM PST by Idaho_Cowboy (Ride for the Brand. Joshua 24:15)
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To: posterchild

He said people could come back legally.
Under the law you have to show you have a way to support yourself to be here.
More than likely most all were on the dole or were working the gray market with no records.

Few can legally find a way back until they find s liable sponsor.
My wife took over 20 years to let earn citizenship.

Under the Reagan amnesty mistake lots of illegals came here AFTER THE AMNESTY for the first time and stayed by paying employers $600 to write an employment letter stating they worked for them for years.
This kind of crap can’t happen again and employers caught who do that without records and tax payments to prove employment need jailing if they support fraud again.


115 posted on 02/12/2016 7:38:02 PM PST by A CA Guy (Are God Bless America, God Bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: conservativejoy

Cruz isn’t deporting anybody. They get to stay. That is real amnesty.


116 posted on 02/12/2016 7:56:44 PM PST by CottonBall
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To: conservativejoy

Wow, so many lies by Cruz supporters here. Cruz lies, so it’s no surprise.

I guess Cruz isn’t good enough on his own, Cruz supporters have to lie about other candidates nonstop to cover up Cruz’s inadequacies.


117 posted on 02/12/2016 7:59:42 PM PST by CottonBall
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To: AmericanVictory
"He was clearly referring to their coming back through the legal procedures provided for in the immigration laws. "

If he was so "clearly referring" to that, then why didn't he clearly SAY that?

118 posted on 02/12/2016 8:03:33 PM PST by norwaypinesavage (The Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stones)
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To: norwaypinesavage

Perhaps your perception leaves something to be desired. He used ordinary words whose meaning is known to the average person. Further, the reference was to what is known as a “touchback” program, a type of program which has been known since Senator Kay Bayley Hutheson referred to in and introduced a bill about it years ago, resulting in its being discussed a bit ever since.


119 posted on 02/12/2016 8:14:39 PM PST by AmericanVictory (Should we be more like them or they more like we used to be?)
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To: conservativejoy

Headline: Trump Moves to the Center: I Support Amnesty

Actual article: Lawyery weasel words twisting Trump’s position.

Nice try, but as this is a month old, it’s clearly not working. Perhaps you should focus on Ted’s accomplishments, or maybe give Heidi a couple $20s. She REALLY needs them and these are DESPERATE times, you know.


120 posted on 02/12/2016 9:02:58 PM PST by 20yearsofinternet
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