Trump Doubles Down on Deportation

Donald Trump on Wednesday doubled down on deporting anyone inside the U.S. illegally if elected president, outlining a militant immigration plan that vanquished swirling questions about whether he would soften his position for a general election audience.

Speaking in Phoenix on a day when he jetted to Mexico for a surprise meeting with the country's president, the Republican nominee recited a 10-point radical immigration overhaul that will animate his base hungry for a bold solution but enrage opponents who find it dehumanizing and impractical.

Above all, Trump laid to rest confusion about his previously stated position favoring deportations of those who came into the country unlawfully. Over the past week, Trump and his top campaign aides sent some vague signals that they might back off the hard-line approach. The candidate himself even polled a Fox News Channel audience on what to do.

But on Wednesday night, Trump made clear he stood firmly by his advocacy for mass deportations as the only way to properly secure the country.

"Anyone who is in the United States illegally is subject to deportation," he said.

Trump appeared to prioritize the removal of criminals first, announcing a "zero tolerance" policy he would begin implementing on the first day of his administration.

"Day 1, my first hour in office, those people are gone," he said. "And you can call it 'deported' if you want. The press doesn't like that term. You can call it whatever the hell you want. They're gone."

But Trump left open exactly how and when he would remove others in the country illegally who are not targeted by law enforcement – the millions living in the shadows and making a living to support their families.

"In several years, when we have accomplished all of our enforcement goals – and truly ended illegal immigration for good, including the construction of a great wall, and the establishment of our new lawful immigration system – then and only then will we be in a position to consider the appropriate disposition of those who remain," he said.

Trump also stuck by his other long-held pledge to build a wall along the southern U.S. border with Mexico. Earlier Wednesday, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto contradicted Trump's claim that the two had not discussed the wall in their private meeting. Pena Nieto tweeted that he told Trump directly his country would not fund such a barrier.

Hillary Clinton's campaign leaped on the discrepancy as evidence that Trump, the self-proclaimed great dealmaker, got outworked behind closed doors.

"It turns out Trump didn't just choke, he got beat in the room and lied about it," Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said.

Trump was subdued and unmoved by the subject while in the presence of Pena Nieto, but later before thousands of cheering fans in Arizona, he relished in teasing "a great wall along the southern border."

"And Mexico will pay for the wall ... 100 percent. They don't know it yet but they're going to pay for the wall," he said. "Mexico will work with us, I absolutely believe it."

Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller framed the contradiction as simply a difference in opinion on the issue. "It was not a negotiation, and that would have been inappropriate," Miller said after Pena Nieto's comments. "We look forward to continuing the conversation."

Other core elements of Trump's immigration plan include the tripling of the number of deportation officers as well as creating a special Deportation Task Force, focused solely on identifying and removing criminals swiftly.

In taking a swipe at Clinton, he joked, "Maybe they'll be able to deport her."

Trump would hire 5,000 additional border patrol agents to help stop the flow of people, drugs and cash that enter through Mexico. He would also move to block funding for sanctuary cities and immediately terminate President Barack Obama's executive order referred to as DACA – Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals – that currently shields 750,000 young people from deportation.

He reiterated his support for "extreme vetting" of those seeking to enter the U.S. and vowed to suspend immigration from countries with a particular problem of terrorism. Trump favors a merit-based approach to immigration that prioritizes skill and proficiency, rather than just a pure will to get to the U.S.

"It's our right as a sovereign nation to choose immigrants that we think are the likeliest to thrive and flourish and love us," he said.

Wednesday's speech was largely seen as a return to Trump's primal instincts of uncompromising nationalism that predominantly resonates with white working-class males. Rather than attempt to curb his fiery language and rein in his combative proposals that conjure images of Hispanic families being ripped apart, Trump amplified them with all the gusto and certainty he displayed in his primary campaign.

"He will revoke the birthright citizenship that we have learned to love and understand through our Constitution. He will send a deportation force to our schools, to our workplaces, to our homes, to grocery stores. He will force Dreamers to abandon their opportunities that belong to them, who belong in this country," Rep. Xavier Becerra of California said in a Clinton campaign conference call ahead of the speech. "His one consistent proposal throughout this campaign has been his promise to forcibly remove some 12 to 16 million people from the country. That includes children born here in the U.S. That's always been his agenda because it's true to who he is."

Repelled by the performance, Democrats also highlighted that white nationalists were quick to applaud Trump's speech.

David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, tweeted that it was "excellent."

The Clinton campaign calculated that the backlash would help them reach their goal of registering 3 million new voters.

In some ways, the tale of two Trump's was on grand display during Wednesday's whirlwind.

In his presentation with Pena Nieto, Trump was subdued and restrained, seemingly seeking to show Americans he could ably conduct a steady bilateral negotiation with another world leader without a hiccup.

At the beginning of his remarks in Phoenix, he even heaped praise on Pena Nieto as "a man I like and respect very much," focusing on their mutual agreements.

"In the end we're all going to win, both countries," he said, promising a new relationship.

But once Trump got rolling on his policy, it was all brimstone and fire – a distortion of Obama's record of deportations and a mischaracterization of Clinton's policy as "open borders."

"We will break the cycle of amnesty and illegal immigration," Trump proclaimed. Those undocumented workers, "will have one route and one route only. To return home and apply for re-entry like everyone else," he said.

After over an hour on stage by himself, Trump then brought up parents whose children were murdered by people who were in the country illegally. Wearing white T-shirts bearing pictures of the victims, they movingly recited the crimes that took their loved ones and pledged their support to Trump.

Trump hugged and kissed the mothers and shook the hands of the fathers before stepping back to a microphone before a hushed crowd.

"Now is the time for their voices to be heard," he said.