Trump Reveals “10 Step” Immigration Plan

By Lorin McLain

Donald Trump ended a pivotal day for his campaign in Phoenix by sticking to his plan to build a wall to keep out illegals, but hinting at a vaguely conciliatory partnership with Mexico to achieve it. The wall was the GOP presidential candidate’s first of a ten point plan of a policy to address immigration laid out at a Phoenix rally, just hours after meeting Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto. Trump said his meeting was a “thoughtful and substantive conversation, and in the end, we’re all going to win.

In Mexico, no discussion was reported to transpire on who would foot the bill on the controversial wall. However, Pieto declared on Twitter “I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall.” Trump supporters would likely view this meeting as an effective display of statesmanship. In Phoenix, Trump assured them, “Mexico will pay for the wall, believe me, 100 percent, they don’t know it yet, but they will pay for the wall.”

His second initiative is to end “catch and release” which he characterized as a product of the Obama administration. Trump pledged anyone caught crossing the border would be sent back to their home country. The GOP candidate took stabs at Hillary Clinton, blaming her for not enforcing the right of the U.S. to compel countries to take back deportees. Trump claims 13 thousand hard criminals have remained in the country because of Clinton’s lax policies while serving as Secretary of State. He pledged zero tolerance for criminal aliens, and he “would begin moving them out on day one.”

Trump promised to cut funding to any sanctuary cities who would shun federal mandates if he was president, and he would cancel Obama’s executive orders that have provided amnesty to immigrants. He also said he would restore safe communities programs that were cut by the Obama administration. Trump claims 300,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records have been allowed to remain in the U.S. under Obama’s policies.

The immigration plan also calls for tripling the number of ICE officers, and creating a new task force under ICE that would seek out “the most dangerous criminals that have evaded justice, just like Hillary.” Trump suggested, “maybe they could deport her.” It was one of many swipes the billionaire candidate took at his opponent, repeatedly referring to the former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State, and Obama, as consistently advocating an “open border policy” when it comes to immigration. “There’s illegal immigrants with criminal records a mile long that didn’t meet Obama administration removal standards,” he said.

Another point of the Trump immigration plan is to suspend issuing visas to anyone from a country that’s deemed to have inadequate screening. Trump referred to this as a piece of his “extreme vetting” plan, where people wanting to come into the U.S. would submit to a test to see if their ideas square up to those of typical, upstanding U.S. citizens. Trump says he wants “to make sure those admitted would share our values and love our people.” Applicants would be given a civics test of sorts, asking questions such as their views on women and gays.

Trump said he would make eliminating visa overstays a top priority, and he would turn off jobs and benefits for people in the country illegally by expanding the E-Verify system. Trump proclaimed that “the time has come for a new immigration system” that would select candidates for citizenship based on their likelihood of success. He said his ten steps will “accomplish more in a matter of months than our politicians have in 50 years.”