Now, along comes "The Donald" to blow that all up.
Donald Trump would reverse President Obama's executive orders on immigration and deport all undocumented immigrants from the U.S. as president, he said in an exclusive interview with NBC's Chuck Todd.Given that coverage of the Republican presidential primary has been boiled down to reporters asking candidates how they respond to something Trump said, they're not going to be able to avoid this question now.
"We're going to keep the families together, but they have to go," he said in the interview, which will air in full on NBC's "Meet the Press" this Sunday.
Pressed on what he'd do if the immigrants in question had nowhere to return to, Trump reiterated: "They have to go."
Ed Kilgore is right to suggest that there is no way to pull off what Trump is suggesting other than police raids and cattle cars (never mind the cost). So he's either the world's worst businessman or he's simply goading the Republicans. I have no idea which one fits. But then, it doesn't really matter. Just pass the popcorn.
This sickens me for its nativist hypocrisy. Prior to 1952 people just arrived, no prior arrangements. SAve for exclusion acts (Chinese mostly), we took in everyone. What we have done is shut the portals such as Ellis and Angel islands that allowed us to keep tabs on arrivals. We could alter that easily. But the Cold War fear of 'the other' has not abated in people who themselves are here because we believed in open doors for their ancestors. The idea we'd treat today's immigrants like animals and throw out even refugees is appalling. We have surpassed the ugliness of the Know Nothings who hated the ancestors of the very people who trumpet this inhumanity today.
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