Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

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
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 101-120121-140141-160161-179 next last
To: conservativejoy

Good old BS propaganda that tells only 25% of the story to misrepresent Trump’s position yet again...


121 posted on 02/12/2016 9:22:57 PM PST by FenwickBabbitt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

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

If the MSM is too inept and corrupt to get it right, accurately, why should we expect a fifth tier "news" source to do any better?

There is a profound chasm between "will come back" and "might come back"

122 posted on 02/12/2016 10:31:35 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ETL
That would be support staff, not management.

You are displaying an embarrassing level of credibility.

123 posted on 02/12/2016 10:35:36 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Tammy8
Sorry to introduce reality into this thread.
Executive orders are not laws.

That is precisely the point of this entire thread!

That is just a minor issue; There are at least a half dozen major issues, which are also unconstitutional, that the African and the muslim contingent and their supporters avoid like the plague.

124 posted on 02/12/2016 11:15:39 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: papertyger
NONONO! Trump is NEVER going to do the things he talked about...

I admire competency of every sort. It's simple.

Claiming to know the future has been an eternal scam of megalomaniacs, but anything is possible.

Just list all the assertions you have made of future events that can be documented s accurate over, say, a period of 8 to 12 years, and you can no longer be considered loony tunes.

Or just STFU!

125 posted on 02/12/2016 11:21:16 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: conservativejoy
This is the most insane aspect if Trump's policy.

It only sounds insane when it is so drastically misrepresented as it was in this article. Trump has made it clear on many occasions that not all of the deported can come back in and the ones who do will be well-vetted. That they all get to return is the one, most fundamental incorrect assumption that the Trump haters make, even in the face of a lot of evidence to the contrary.

Check out Trump's speech from Beaumont, TX at the 4:26 mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KUMb_7LH9Q

Here's what he says about the big door in his wall: "And people will come through the openings in that wall, and we'll have a few of them, and they'll come in and they're going to come in legally into our country." "A few of them" is what he said, not "all of them"--he has never at any time said that he wants all of the deported to come back.

First of all, in his book, Time to Get Tough, his Nov. speech in Knoxville (on YouTube), and various other places, he has made it clear that those with criminal records can never come back in again.

Secondly, he said they can apply to become legal immigrants, but it is important to keep in mind that he has written repeatedly about reforming the legal immigration system to allow the most educated and talented into the country and to keep out those who would damage it and harm American workers. Look at his requirements about the H1-B visas in his policy paper on his website for some of his strategies to ensure that those legal immigrants aren't taking jobs from Americans and driving wages down. If there is a legitimate need, however, he is not against bringing people in from abroad to fill it. This does not mean that he believes the old canard that all the illegals are only doing jobs Americans won't. He wrote in 2011: "We've all heard it a million times: 'We need illegal immigrants because they are willing to do jobs Americans just won't.' To that one I say, 'Says who?' We have 25 million citizens who need jobs, and 7 million illegal immigrants holding American jobs. Do the math..."

As his immigration policy paper on his campaign website says, "We need to control the admission of new low-earning workers in order to: help wages grow, get teenagers back to work, aid minorities' rise into the middle class, help schools and communities falling behind, and to ensure our immigrant members of the national family become part of the American dream." Another aspect of his position is having immigrants who will not need welfare: "Applicants for entry to the United States should be required to certify that they can pay for their own housing, healthcare and other needs before coming to the U.S."

In all three of his political books (from 2000, 2011, and 2015), he makes it clear that he thinks we should allow in immigrants who will be an overall benefit to our country. In his 2011 book Time to Get Tough, he wrote that he thinks immigrants need to "bring skills, prosperity, and intellectual capital." He wants to give preference to people with college degrees and skilled work experience (specifically in desired fields that need workers). In that book, he wrote more about the welfare issue: "America doesn't need freeloaders who come here to live off our welfare system."

In his 2000 book, The America We Deserve, he wrote: "Legal immigrants do not and should not enter easily...It comes down to this: We must take care of our own people first. Our policy to people born elsewhere should be clear: Enter by the law, or leave." He then discusses the deportations that were happening each year and adds: "But it's still not good enough. It's irresponsible to give a helping hand to outsiders so long as there is one American deprived of a livelihood or basic services."

In his newest book, Crippled America, he talks of using the immigration system to "reward achievement and excellence." He says, "Our current immigration laws are upside down--they make it tough on the people we need to have here, and easy for the people we don't want here." He then talks about how we should be bringing in "the smartest, hardest-working people born in other countries."

126 posted on 02/12/2016 11:58:39 PM PST by FenwickBabbitt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: papertyger
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.

First of all, it is NOT a small minority. But even worse, our elected criminals manipulate statistics and have in the past simply arbitrarily and capriciously determined that certain misdemeanors or even felonies are no longer crimes. And they consider that an achievement.
That "small minority" of criminals is upwards of 25% for violent crimes and drugs, and 75% for what would otherwise be called "white collar" crimes.

It is no coincidence that those same elected criminals and bureaucrats prohibited the necessary statistics to be gathered by law enforcement, enabling them to continue claiming, unchallenged, their claim that it is only a "tiny" problem. It is huge.

127 posted on 02/13/2016 12:01:37 AM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: conservativejoy

Trump doesn’t even want them to “go to the back of the line” in his amnesty—he wants them to return, legalized, “on an expedited basis”.


128 posted on 02/13/2016 12:02:17 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: conservativejoy

Cruz now says he wouldn’t, but he has supported legalization in the past and until very recently he wouldn’t say what he’d do with the illegals here presently.

I don’t really trust either of them on this issue—but for now Cruz has the advantage because of his current official position.


129 posted on 02/13/2016 12:04:23 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: AmericanVictory

No, Trump “clearly” and repeatedly has said he’d let them come back, magically legalized, on an “expedited” basis.


130 posted on 02/13/2016 12:05:34 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
But unfortunately Mr. Trump has no knowledge of conservative economic theory.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but from which university did you get your Doctorate in "Conservative Economic Theory?"

I can find no evidence of such a degree anywhere.

131 posted on 02/13/2016 12:07:08 AM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: tirednvirginia

No, they would not be eligible to come back “through legal channels” at all under our current law. Trump not only would make their return legal—he would expedite their return.

That is the straightforward “touchback amnesty” that the GOPe tried to use to get amnesty by the base almost a decade ago.


132 posted on 02/13/2016 12:07:48 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: kabar

Trump conveniently didn’t put what he has been saying since last summer—about “expediting” illegals’ return as legals once they go home to visit their families—into his stated position paper.


133 posted on 02/13/2016 12:11:29 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: fireman15

Trump has repeatedly said he’d “expedite” their return. By current law they are not eligible to return at all.

Trump is actually for amnesty, which is what his son is pointing out.


134 posted on 02/13/2016 12:18:04 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: publius911
That would be support staff, not management. You are displaying an embarrassing level of credibility.

Well, waiters and dishwashers, yes. But supers and porters work for building management companies, as do doormen.

135 posted on 02/13/2016 12:18:05 AM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 123 | View Replies]

To: nclaurel

Fingerprinting them upon departure should be one good way to make sure they don’t return.


136 posted on 02/13/2016 12:18:50 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Hostage

Trump has repeatedly said it in his stump speeches. I’ve repeatedly heard him say that he would “expedite” their return as legals.


137 posted on 02/13/2016 12:19:38 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: gov_bean_ counter
Well Eisenhower was a man of substance. Donnie, not so much.

GREAT!
Operation Wetback.

1954.
Deported a total of 2 million illegals in less than 2 years, including self-deportations.

Glad that you seem to approve of Eisenhower's higher totally unopposed efficiency.

138 posted on 02/13/2016 12:25:30 AM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 107 | View Replies]

To: publius911

Building management

A building manager supervises the hard and soft services of a built structure. There are essentially two types of building manager positions: residential and commercial.

Hard services usually relate to physical, structural services such as fire alarm systems, lifts and so on whereas soft services allude to cleaning, landscaping, security and suchlike human-sourced services.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_management


139 posted on 02/13/2016 12:26:24 AM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 123 | View Replies]

To: publius911

Anyone remember in the ‘50s and ‘60s where newspapers referred to government representatives as ‘solons’? There is a dead word.


140 posted on 02/13/2016 12:27:44 AM PST by r_barton (We the People of the United States...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 138 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 101-120121-140141-160161-179 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson