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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

Trump has not made any statement that he has any intention of giving illegals any preference over anyone else. They are going to have to wait at the end of the line. It is time we cut down legal immigration as well as shipping out the people who are here illegally. You are being silly.


21 posted on 02/12/2016 2:23:30 PM PST by fireman15 (Check your facts before making ignorant statements.)
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To: conservativejoy

Trump supporting touchback amnesty doesn’t matter to his supporters. No matter the issue, he’s gonna make it great again.


22 posted on 02/12/2016 2:23:37 PM PST by Durbin
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To: conservativejoy

Where does he ‘specify’ an ‘expedited process’?


23 posted on 02/12/2016 2:24:24 PM PST by Hostage (ARTICLE V)
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To: conservativejoy

Here is yet another thread proving my point of “intellectual dishonesty” among the Cruz supporters. Trump made it safe for Cruz to talk about sending the illegals back. GO TRUMP GO


24 posted on 02/12/2016 2:24:25 PM PST by Parley Baer
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To: conservativejoy
Total lie by a Bush lackey. Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again The three core principles of Donald J. Trump's immigration plan
25 posted on 02/12/2016 2:25:28 PM PST by kabar
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To: AmericanVictory

You are correct. This is a Dishonest representation of what Trump meant and said. Yes, they will be deported and yes, they can come back but only through legal channels.


26 posted on 02/12/2016 2:25:31 PM PST by tirednvirginia
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To: conservativejoy

Cruzberger’s syndrome. Yikes.


27 posted on 02/12/2016 2:25:41 PM PST by Stentor ("Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." Robert Goodloe Harper)
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To: Leto

Trump will make sure the Democrats acquire power for decades to come with this touch back amnesty plan.


28 posted on 02/12/2016 2:25:45 PM PST by conservativejoy (Pray Hard, Work Hard, Trust God ...We Can Elect Ted Cruz)
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To: conservativejoy

Did you ever listen to come back LEGALLY? How could Cruz stop them from coming back. Hispanics we know have at least 5 names (multiple first, second and both parents last names) How would Cruz differentiate which had been here illegally before? Suffice to say that only those coming here legally will come back or just what Trump said.


29 posted on 02/12/2016 2:26:29 PM PST by nclaurel
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To: Fantasywriter
I don't even bother to correct the lies any more. There will always be more. If people told the truth about Trump's positions, they'd help him climb in the polls. Can't do that, so lie.

People who support a fast talking slick liar, excuse me lawyer, do not feel any more allegiance to the truth than their candidate. This has been shown over and over and over again.

30 posted on 02/12/2016 2:27:45 PM PST by fireman15 (Check your facts before making ignorant statements.)
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To: papertyger

Why would he spend the $1 trillion to deport them, if they are just coming back? They will never be deported.


31 posted on 02/12/2016 2:28:11 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: conservativejoy

What’s really insane is Ted Cruz calling himself a principled conservative (TM) while his Super PAC stuffs millions of dollars of anonymous dirty money into his campaign coffers. There’s nothing principled or conservative about that.


32 posted on 02/12/2016 2:28:42 PM PST by lodi90 (TRUMP Force 1 lifting off)
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To: conservativejoy; Liz; AuntB; La Lydia; sickoflibs; stephenjohnbanker; Tolerance Sucks Rocks; ...

The law if its still on the books is 10 years..

they can apply to come here legally after that period of time

and I think Trump was referring to the children of illegal aliens not the ones who came here as grown ups...


33 posted on 02/12/2016 2:28:53 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: Hostage
Here is one link to Breitbart:

I'd Expedite Immigration Process for Good Illegals

34 posted on 02/12/2016 2:28:54 PM PST by conservativejoy (Pray Hard, Work Hard, Trust God ...We Can Elect Ted Cruz)
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To: conservativejoy

They have to show they can support themselves and have records showing the taxes they were paying. That will exclude 97% or more of them.


35 posted on 02/12/2016 2:30:29 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: Fantasywriter

I don’t even bother to correct the lies any more. There will always be more. If people told the truth about Trump’s positions, they’d help him climb in the polls. Can’t do that, so lie.


Yep. Senator Principled Conservative (TM) is throwing the kitchen sink in now hoping some of the stink sticks to Trump. Unfortunately for beltway Teddy only his true believers continue to drink the kool-aid in Cruztown.


36 posted on 02/12/2016 2:30:45 PM PST by lodi90 (TRUMP Force 1 lifting off)
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To: nclaurel

It’s pretty simple. Cruz says if they have to be deported, they will not be allowed back in. Our immigration laws say that we do not have to allow criminals to immigrate. They have broken our immigration laws and they will be in the system for being deported.


37 posted on 02/12/2016 2:31:23 PM PST by conservativejoy (Pray Hard, Work Hard, Trust God ...We Can Elect Ted Cruz)
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To: BenLurkin
Center of WHAT?

That has always been the seminal question. On the left we have complete ecowhackos, insane leftists, rabid leftists, mere communists, moderate socialists, and moderate progressives. On the right we have GOPee and extremists. I'd guess a move toward the center would come down somewhere between mere Communists and moderate socialists.

38 posted on 02/12/2016 2:32:05 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: nickcarraway

Stop the benefits and fine employers and they will leave themselves with no way to sustain.


39 posted on 02/12/2016 2:32:10 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: Parley Baer
Here is yet another thread proving my point of “intellectual dishonesty” among the Cruz supporters.

Thankfully, the daily straw poll is showing these tactics ARE being recognized.

Frankly, the intellectual dishonesty of the liberals is much more forgivable with "friends" like Cruz supporters.

40 posted on 02/12/2016 2:32:36 PM PST by papertyger (-/\/\/\-)
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