Donald Trump’s Immigration Policy Is Now ‘To Be Determined’

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appears to be changing his tune with respect to immigration after information leaked about his meeting with the Hispanic advisory council he has created on Saturday. During the sit-down, Buzzfeed reports that Trump was reversing his earlier statements about automatic deportation for people in the United States illegally, and said he was looking for a “humane and efficient manner.”

Donald Trump may be rethinking his pledge to deport illegal immigrants, his new campaign manager suggested https://t.co/rwylsS3r1x

— New York Post (@nypost) August 21, 2016

This potential change in policy seemed to be confirmed by Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump’s new campaign manager, on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. When asked if Trump planned to deport people in the country illegally Conway replied, “To be determined.”

It doesn’t appear that Donald Trump is having a complete change of heart, however. He still remains committed to enforcing the law and ensuring that the border is secure, according to Jacob Monty, a Houston-based immigration lawyer who sat in on the meeting.

Immediately after the Buzzfeed article, Steven Cheung, a member of the Trump campaign, dismissed the report and stated that the presidential nominee had not opened the door to legalization.

In his first ad of the general election, Donald Trump focuses on a familiar issue: immigration https://t.co/Q7p4gMr7tJ

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 20, 2016

In Donald Trump’s first television ad of the general election, he focused on illegal immigration and the differences between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s stance on the subject and his. The ad says that Clinton would accept thousands of Syrian refugees and that illegal immigration affects national security.

The Clinton campaign responded to the new softer tone of Trump’s campaign by saying that it was a “cynical attempt” to distract from the danger of his policies and views.

Despite starting his campaign off by saying that Mexico was sending their rapists and murderers, and his general anti-immigrant sentiment throughout the primary campaign, Donald Trump has his supporters. This hardline stance and his pledge to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it propelled Trump to victory over his former Republican opponents.

One thing that did not change with the shakeup of the Trump campaign this week was his position regarding his tax returns. Conway confirmed on Sunday that Donald Trump would not be making his tax returns available to the public, repeating the line that they were currently under audit.

During her appearance on State of the Union, Conway was asked about comments she made in 2005 that appeared to be a dig at Hillary Clinton. In a 2005 interview, Conway said the following.

“The fact is that Hillary Clinton could not stand up to a cheating husband, so how in the world would she stand up to North Korea and some of our other enemies around the globe?”

Conway insisted that she wasn’t making a dig at Clinton’s marriage and that she was strictly speaking about her leadership abilities.

In another seeming about-face, Conway confirmed earlier in the week that in addition to re-evaluating the campaign infrastructure, she was working closely with the RNC and that the campaign was speaking daily to RNC chair Reince Priebus.

With the changes in the Donald Trump campaign, his apology for some of the comments he has made along the campaign, and a potentially new immigration policy, Trump appears to finally be getting that he has to stop alienating such large groups of people. It is expected that he will be giving a key immigration policy speech sometime this week, and many are waiting to see which side of him ultimately comes out.

[Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images]