Trump: ‘They have to go’
Says he’d deport undocumented immigrants
Presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would deport all undocumented immigrants if elected next year, and reverse President Barack Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
“They have to go,” the billionaire real estate magnate said in an interview to air Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” Trump said he wouldn’t split up families and instead would deport them “together.”
Trump’s campaign on Sunday released a four-page manifesto on immigration reform anchored by three principles, including construction of a wall along the southern U.S. border — an idea which the Mexican government has criticized.
“We have to make a whole new set of standards,” the front-runner in Republican polls said on NBC. “We either have a country or we don’t have a country.”
In a wide-ranging 40-minute conversation, Trump also predicted the Iran nuclear deal could lead to “a nuclear holocaust,” and said he would “knock the hell out of the oil” held by Islamic State forces.
Trump has made fighting illegal immigration a cornerstone of his run for the White House. Announcing his candidacy in June, he called Mexican immigrants “rapists” and said they bring drugs and crime to the U.S., earning rebukes from fellow Republicans and companies including Macy’s Inc. and Comcast Corp.’s NBC Universal unit.
Those off-the-cuff remarks were enshrined in Trump’s official plan, which said that Mexico’s leaders were “using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own county.”
While those who entered the country illegally must be made to leave, Trump said on NBC, “we will expedite it so people can come back in. The good people can come back.”
To help stem the flow of immigrants, Trump would increase the number of agents employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security. He also wants ICE officers to work with local police departments targeting violent street gangs.
Trump’s plan would abolish “birthright citizenship,” which gives citizenship to those born in the U.S., including the children of undocumented immigrants. “This remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration,” the plan said, without specifying how the goal would be achieved.