Including, in all likelihood, some of his supporters

What everyone's getting wrong about Trump's immigration position

One of the ways you can detect bias in reporting is with the use of a word like “hardline,” which sounds stubborn and inflexible, for a position that simply means business. When someone is said to be taking a “hardline” position, people are constantly after them to “soften” said position, which sounds so much nicer and more reasonable. So we keep hearing that Donald Trump is taking a “hardline” position on immigration, that being the determination to deport all 11 million (or 12 million, or whatever it is) illegal immigrations who are currently in this country. Once again yesterday, Trump came under pressure in a group of Hispanic leaders to “soften” this position, which he talked about later on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox. Here’s how CNN reported that:

Speaking to Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an interview Tuesday night, Trump was asked about a recent meeting he had with the National Hispanic Advisory Council, a group of Hispanic supporters. “Is there any part of the law that you might be able to change that would accommodate those people that contribute to society, have been law abiding, have kids here—would there be any room in your mind because I know you had a meeting this week with Hispanic leaders,” Hannity said. “I did,” Trump replied. “I had a great meeting with great people, great Hispanic leaders, and there could certainly be a softening because we’re not looking to hurt people. We want people—we have some great people in this country. We have some great, great people in this country but we’re going to follow the laws of this country and what people don’t realize—we have very, very strong laws.” Trump did not provide further details. His stated immigration stance—which include deporting all of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country and building a wall along the US-Mexico border—is a key part of his appeal to the Republican Party base and helped propel him during the primary season.

One of the things people constantly miss about Trump is that he takes very strong positions about things like law enforcement and international deals because he understands the need to go into any situation in a position of strength. When Trump says every illegal immigrant is subject to deportation, that is not the same thing as saying every illegal immigrant will be deported. He knows that as president he needs to maintain the discretion to deport anyone in that group, which is a very dramatic departure from the Obama position of doing everything he can to avoid enforcing the law at all. The media and the Democrats, either out of willful ignorance or out of actual stupidity, respond to this position by attacking both the plausibility and the wisdom of rounding up 11 million people. Trump is not going to round up 11 million people. He has no intention of trying to. The resources do not exist to do so. This is why he responded the way he did to the Hispanic leaders he met with on Tuesday. To the extent they’re asking him to concede right off the bat that certain people will never be deported, Trump refuses to make that concession because the law is clear and the federal government has to follow the law. A person who is breaking the law shouldn’t be told to just hide out and try to keep getting away with it. That person needs to take the initiative to make things right, but understand that the federal government does have the discretion to deport you and is not going to give up that discretion just because of public pressure of whatever else. That’s how you end up with widespread lawlessness.

But Trump also understand that you have to exercise good judgment in choosing who you go after, so the priority targets for deportation will be criminals and others who are creating real problems with their presence here in the United States. When Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway talks about this being a matter of how the policy is executed, that’s exactly what she means. Trump cannot and should not say, “Anyone who’s not causing any problems, or has a family here, can stay.” Because that undermines the law. People not causing problems will not be high deportation priorities, but unlike Obama, Trump understands the importance of maintaining legal discretion over any lawbreaker. Where I think many Trump supporters are also in error is that they actually believe the media narrative about Trump rounding up 11 million people and deporting them all in one fell swoop - and they like it. They think this is the one and only way to deal with illegal immigration, and that every politician who won’t say he’s going to do it is a squish and a sellout. They think Trump is really going to do it and that makes him the only guy who’s prepared to get serious about illegal immigration. These people are going to be disappointed if Trump becomes president, and that’s a shame because Trump’s actual position is the most serious one we’ve seen when it comes to enforcing immigration law. He’s not going to give up leverage by swearing off legitimate legal options he has, and he clearly intends to make the enforcement of immigration law a priority in a way Obama certainly has not (and Hillary certainly would not). When people try to pressure Trump to make concessions about what he would not do, he refuses because Trump is not a guy who believes in weakening his position before he takes on a challenge. So yes, under a President Trump, every illegal immigrant in America will be at risk of deportation. But no, they will not all be gone by the time Trump leaves office. Not even most of them will be gone. It’s costly and complicated to deport them, and as we discussed last week, sometimes the courts will give you problems even when you try your best. The fact that almost no one seems to understand this goes to show just how absurd the coverage of campaigns has become, which probably explains in part why Americans have lately been making such poor choices in the choosing of their leaders.



Dan Calabrese -- Bio and Archives Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain Follow all of Dan’s work, including his series of Christian spiritual warfare novels, by liking his page on Facebook.

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