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PHOENIX — Seeking to end confusion over his aggressive but recently muddled language on immigration, Donald Trump vowed Wednesday to remove millions of people living in the country illegally if he becomes president, warning that failure to do so would jeopardize the “well-being of the American people.”

But Trump didn’t address what he would do about millions more who might remain under his approach — the major question that has frustrated past congressional attempts at remaking the nation’s immigration laws.

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Instead, Trump repeated the standard Republican talking point that only after securing the border can such a discussion begin to take place.

It was a retreat in the rhetoric for the billionaire from the GOP primaries, when he had vowed his “deportation force” would seek to remove all who didn’t have permission to live and work in the country.

The Republican presidential candidate insisted than any of the estimated 11 million such immigrants who want to seek legal status or citizenship in the United States must return to their home countries in order to do so. And he outlined plans to create a special task force that would prioritize the deportation of criminals, people who have overstayed their visas and other immediate security threats.