Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:10 pm
In an exclusive interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd, Donald Trump bluntly asserted that he would rescind President Obama’s executive order on immigration. When Chuck Todd pressed Trump for specifics, the GOP presidential candidate simply argued that all undocumented immigrants had to go.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
We’re going to keep the families together, but they have to go…We will work with them. They have to go. Chuck, we either have a country, or we don’t have a country.
Given that Donald Trump kicked off his presidential campaign by accusing Mexican immigrants of being rapists, it should come as no surprise that the GOP contender is continuing to use strong anti-immigrant rhetoric. However, his decision to come down in favor of deporting DREAMer children who came to the United States through no fault of their own, is a controversial position that may put him at odds with moderate voters.
Despite Trump’s apparent popularity in the GOP field, most Americans do not support his hard line stance on immigration. Surveys of voters consistently show most Americans are sympathetic to DREAMers and want to offer them a path to citizenship. Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric has paid dividends so far with Republican voters, but it is likely to alienate general election voters.
Moreover, Trump’s ascendancy in the GOP primaries is likely to further the rift between the Republican Party and Latino voters. In 2004, George W. Bush managed to garner 44 percent of the Latino vote. However, after nearly a decade of Republican anti-immigrant demagoguery, the 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney got crushed by Barack Obama 71-27 percent with Latino voters. Trump’s candidacy is destined to do even greater damage to the Republican Party’s standing among Latino voters.
Although Trump insists that he will carry the Hispanic vote, it is clear that his strategy is to demonize Latinos and to deport undocumented immigrants, no matter what the circumstances that brought them here are. It is not a practical or a compassionate policy, but it is the kind of rhetoric that just might help him stay atop the GOP field. However, in a general election, his position should and probably will be rejected by a majority of American voters.
Keith Brekhus is a progressive American who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. He holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. In 2002, he ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate in the state of Missouri. In 2014, he worked as a field organizer for Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick’s successful re-election bid in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus or on Facebook.
