WaPo | Trump has committed to a plan that is detailed and ambitious, with
none of that trust-me ambiguity. For now it is the only formal plank in
his campaign platform; on his Web site, it is the only position listed
under the category “Positions.”
“What you have to give to Trump
is, whatever way he’s done it, he has pushed this front and center,”
said Roy Beck of NumbersUSA, which wants to lower overall U.S.
immigration, legal and illegal. The elites of the Republican Party, Beck
said, “absolutely did not want this discussed in this debate. And
instead it’s front and center. It’s strange, but it is the triumph of
the working class of the Republican Party.”
Still, on Monday,
even some who supported the ideals of Trump’s plan said they weren’t
sure it would actually work. It would require a massive extension of
federal authority into maternity wards and Western Union offices,
tracing the parentage of children and money to deny illegal immigrants a
comfortable spot in U.S. society.
“If we
could get 12 million people to leave, why don’t we just do that now?
This idea that we’re going to get ’em all to leave, and we’re going to
get the good ones back, it’s a fairy tale,” said Mark Krikorian of the
Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks to reduce illegal
immigration. “It’s just not the way that government could function. It’s
dopey. It’s a gimmick.”
