Trump campaign manager rips 'distorted' immigration reports

Donald Trump is delaying his major address on immigration originally scheduled for Thursday in Colorado because the Republican nominee is trying to get a better handle on "such a complex issue," campaign manager Kellyanne Conway explained Tuesday, blasting reports that Trump is softening or changing his approach on immigration enforcement.

"You know, we inherited this schedule and although I think it's a great idea to have that kind of speech and certainly put together a full plan, immigration is such a complex issue and Mr. Trump has been taking the counsel of many different people on this," Conway said during an interview on "Fox & Friends." "He obviously has some very strong feelings and policy prescription with respect to immigration, but he's speaking to people to understand how to execute on those ideas."


Asked whether Trump is signaling a change in the way he is addressing immigration, Conway remarked that the reporting of Trump's meeting with Hispanic leaders last weekend has gotten "distorted a bit based on somebody who was in the room."

"He has said exactly the same thing all along: Let’s enforce the law. And if you enforce the law, a lot of good things start happening with respect to deporting people who have committed crimes and certainly protecting American workers. Many American workers now feel they're competing with illegal immigrants as well as people in factories in Mexico or China or robots somewhere else," Conway added. "And so we want to be fair to everyone."

Trump's immigration conversation will likely center around a policy with "fairness to everyone," Conway said. "Not the fairness to the 11 million [in the country illegally], which is the way that the left characterizes it, but fairness to the American workers, fairness to our communities, fairness to our law enforcement. Fairness to employers also. Should they be asked to do more than sign up for e-Verify and wash their hands clean of that type of enforcement?"

"The other thing is, we think on immigration, there are very few issues where Hillary is actually to the left of Barack Obama. Her plans are so radical," Conway said. "In some estimates she would allow millions and millions of new illegal immigrants over the next several years and she has also shown a liking to the executive order approach to amnesty. And so she's also broadcasting now she has no interest in working with the Congress on such an important issue."