In his darkest speech to date, Donald Trump doubled down on hate in an anti-immigrant policy speech delivered in Arizona on Wednesday. Trump spoke about undocumented immigrants and DREAMers in dehumanizing terms, cast them as criminals, and confirmed what we all already knew, that he plans to deport 16 million people.
Trump’s plan and speech continue to draw sharp criticism:
Trump doubles down on his illogical, un-American immigration plans
Washington Post // Editorial Board
To the GOP nominee, illegal immigrants are a useful instrument with which to whip his supporters into a froth of nativist agitation. He would hire thousands more immigration and Border Patrol agents; he would create a “special deportation task force”; he would round up the criminals whose countries refuse to accept them. He would do it all on Day One, in the first hour, the first minute, in the first fleeting seconds of his administration — by fiat, presumably, because he makes no reference to Congress or legality or judicial precedent. It will all be so fast, so beautiful, so efficient. Believe him.
Donald Trump, Deporter in Waiting
New York Times // Editorial Board
Don’t be confused by the days of mixed messaging from Donald Trump’s campaign, or the head-feint trip to Mexico, where he was polite to the president. Speaking on Wednesday in Phoenix, Mr. Trump did not retreat from, or in any way soften, his promise to make 11 million unauthorized immigrants targets for deportation. His speech — in 10 points, embellished with statistics, ad-libbed asides and audience hollering and chanting — was as clear a statement of hard-core restrictionism as any he has given. It was a mass-deportation speech, even if he avoided that phrase. Its intent was hard to miss.
Washington Post // Eugene Robinson
Foreigners who come here seeking a better life are the scapegoats he blames for problems real and imagined. Never mind that Trump’s mother was an immigrant, or that two of his three wives came from overseas. Ronald Reagan saw this country as a shining city on a hill; Trump wants us to cower in fear behind a Berlin-style wall. Reagan invited millions of undocumented immigrants to stay and contribute to their adopted land; Trump wants to round them up, all 11 million, and ship them home.
Wall Street Journal // Editorial Board
..the businessman missed a chance to make a more reasonable case to honor the law without embracing mass deportation that is politically impossible and economically damaging. “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation,” Mr. Trump said. “And you can call it deported if you want. The press doesn’t like that term. You can call it whatever the hell you want. They’re gone.”
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Are Universes Apart on Immigration
NBC News // Benjy Sarlin and Alex Seitz-Wald
Experts from all sides of the immigration spectrum say the policy gap between Donald Trump, who on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for a border wall and mass deportation, and Hillary Clinton, who has pledged to further integrate millions of undocumented immigrants into American society, is unprecedented in recent history.
How Trump got from Point A to Point A on immigration
Washington Post // Jenna Johnson, Robert Costa and Philip Rucker
He spent days floating a series of possible changes and gauging the reaction… But later that night, he decided to stick with the far-right positions that were key to his success in the Republican primaries and could help him cement the support of white men — one demographic where he beats Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
No more nation of immigrants: Trump plan calls for a major, long-lasting cut in legal entries
LA Times // David Lauter and Brian Bennett
Trump broke sharply from the Republican Party’s long-standing positions and adopted the most openly nativist platform of any major party presidential candidate in decades. If Trump is elected, the shift he advocates would greatly reduce immigration overall and move the U.S. from an immigration philosophy of allowing strivers from around the world to take advantage of American opportunities to one focused on bringing in people who already have money and job skills. That viewpoint is deeply divisive within the GOP — another example of the stress that Trump’s campaign has put on the party.
Salon // Simon Maloy
As I wrote this morning, Donald Trump’s big immigration speech on Wednesday night was a demagogic horror show. But folded into the nativist barking and anti-immigrant fearmongering was something resembling a policy proposal: a 10-point outline describing how, exactly, a President Trump would tackle the issue of undocumented immigration. Despite Trump’s promises of detail, very little of what he proposed delved into specifics. But the thrust of his policy was clear: mass deportation. He touted a “zero tolerance” policy for “criminal aliens” and promised that on Day 1 of his administration he will begin rounding up for deportation the supposed 2 million of them that he said are currently living in the country. The noncriminal element of the immigrant population would also be prioritized for removal under the Trump plan.
Medium // David Leopold, Former President, American Immigration Lawyers Association
After Donald Trump met with his Hispanic Advisory Council on August 20, the media tied itself in knots over whether he had “softened” on his insistence that all 11 million undocumented immigrants be deported, a central pillar of his campaign…But on Wednesday in Phoenix, Trump put any talk of possible “softening” to bed, as he outlined a horrifying, 10-step assault on immigrants — documented and undocumented; due process; and other cherished American values. Trump laid out the most hardline, mean spirited immigration proposal in U.S. history; a scheme, that if put into effect, would result in the mass deportation, either by force or by forcing people out because life is so miserable, with no way back to the U.S.
A side note: I watched the full speech and was disturbed the most by two of his ten points
- That he would tighten up the immigration number and allow only those to enter who had a “good” chance of assimilating to our culture (translation: NO Muslims, NO Hispanics, just rich white folks)
- That he would employ the use of biometrics to track those within our borders on Visas— which to me sounded more like the modern-day technological equivalent of Nazi tatoos placed on the arms of people of the Jewish faith
If you have the stomach for it and care to “listen between the words”, you can watch the full speech here.