With which face will Trump rule?
Which Donald Trump will take the presidency in January? The one of the divisive, prejudiced and fatalistic vision that he sold in the campaign; or one will make more pragmatic decisions dictated by reality?
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It is one thing to campaign and another to govern. And yes, Trump comes to the White House with the blessing of having both chambers under Republican control. But even among those Republicans there are different positions; And the Democrats, though weakened, are not painted on the wall either, so agreements have yet to be found.
Where immigration is concerned, it all points to Trump possibly smoothing at least the language of some of his proposals. But it is one thing to soften the language and another very different is what kind of public policy he will apply.
As a candidate, Trump claimed that there would be massive deportations, promised to raise a wall on the southern border for which Mexico will pay, and also said he will repeal executive immigration actions, including the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) that has protected some 700,000 Dreamers from deportation.
In the short term, the central concern of many undocumented migrants and their families and allies is precisely what will happen with DACA. The fear, the confusion and the uncertainty are enormous.
In the medium and long term, the question is whether Trump will push for the most extreme immigration measures outlined in the campaign, advocated by some of the most anti-immigrant figures who advise him, including Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and the Republican Senator from Alabama, Jeff Sessions. And what about his executive advisor and chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, an anti-Semite who outlines supremacist ideas?
In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Trump appeared to soften some of the proposals.
He stated, for example, that he plans to deport or imprison two and up to three million undocumented immigrants with criminal records, "gang members, drug traffickers."
"After the border is safe we will make a determination about the people who are already here, who are fantastic ... but we will make a determination about that," Trump said of the undocumented.
The question is, who will be considered by the Trump government as "criminals"?
The Immigration Policy Center (MPI) estimates that there are 690,000 undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions or aggravated felonies. Trump talks about two and even three million. Who will fall under the category of "criminals"?
And on the wall, Trump now says that some parts will be built and in others there will be a fence.
Trump will need the cooperation of a Congress, which although it is in Republican hands, will not necessarily give him carte blanche for all his proposals.
In fact, House Speaker Paul Ryan said on CNN that during Trump's presidency there will be no deportation force.
Journalist Jake Tapper mentioned to Ryan the fear that exists among the immigrant community before the possibility of the deportations that Trump promised.
"We must calm people down because that is not our approach. We are not planning to create a deportation force. Donald Trump is not planning that,” Ryan said.
Trump's chief of staff will be Reince Priebus, until now the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), which commissioned the Republican Party autopsy after the 2012 presidential defeat and concluded that if the immigration issue is not removed from the table, Latinos will not listen to anything else Republicans have to say. But who will Trump listen to? Priebus or his closest anti-immigrant advisors?
During the campaign, Trump used immigrants as scapegoats to fuel his base. The campaign is over, but fear persists, especially among children who fear that their parents will be deported.
The course that Trump will take on immigration remains to be seen: terrifying a whole community, or adopting a pragmatism that produces sensible solutions. Maribel Hastings is executive advisor to America's Voice.