Donald Trump sounded quite different on illegals already in the country back in 2012, saying we have to have some compassion, that we just can’t throw everybody out. He called it a human issue.

Given the reports that Trump told the NY Times something different and off-the-record about his position on illegal immigration, this is concerning.

Now to be fair, Trump was against Obama’s amnesty proposal in 2012 and said that something has to be done on illegal immigration, agreeing that we have to secure the border. He says multiple times we have to have a solution to our immigration problem, one that’s permanent.







But with respect to the 11 million illegals already here in the country, he was much much softer than he is now:

You have people who’ve been here for 20 years, they speak the language. Some of them don’t even speak Spanish. But they speak the language. It’s very very tough on a human basis and a lot of other bases to be throwing people out…

For people that have been here for years that have been hard workers, have good jobs, are supporting a family, it’s very very tough to just say by the way, you know 22 years you gotta leave, get out. It’s a very very difficult situation. I’m one of the world’s conservative people but i have to tell you on a human basis, how do you throw somebody out that’s lived in this country for 20 years?

When asked about all the new work permits associated with Obama’s amnesty proposal, Trump said this:

The concept is that you throw everybody out and everybody else gets a job but it doesn’t work that way. A lot of the jobs these people have, a lot of other people don’t want. You know that and I know that. You see it all the time, whether it’s picking grapes or doing something else, you have jobs that a lot of people aren’t going to want.

And finally, again on the issue of the 11 million illegals in the country, Trump notes:

We really have to come up with a solution. And we also have to have a solution with compassion. We have to show some compassion, we just can’t throw everybody out.

Watch the interview for yourself. It’s the first half: