Hillary Clinton’s campaign dismissed Donald Trump’s announcement late Tuesday evening that he would meet personally with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and characterized the last-minute trip to Mexico City as a distraction.
“From the first days of his campaign, Donald Trump has painted Mexicans as ‘rapists’ and criminals and has promised to deport 16 million people, including children and U.S. citizens,” Hillary for America Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri said in a statement.
“He has said we should force Mexico to pay for his giant border wall. He has said we should ban remittances to families in Mexico if Mexico doesn’t pay up. What ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportation of millions,” she said.
Trump confirmed late Tuesday evening that he had agreed to travel to Mexico City.
“I have accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto, of Mexico, and look very much forward to meeting him tomorrow,” the Republican candidate tweeted.
The meeting between Trump and Nieto will reportedly take place ahead of the GOP nominee’s scheduled address in Phoenix, Ariz., on immigration reform, his key election issue.
Nieto invited Trump to visit him in Mexico earlier this year, but the Republican candidate never committed to go. It wasn’t until Trump’s new campaign CEO, former Breitbart chief Steve Bannon, reportedly convinced the candidate that the meeting could go a long way toward showing undecided voters they are open to hearing all options on immigration reform that Republican nominee decided to accept the invitation.
Trump has caused confusion in recent weeks by signaling support for an array of fixes to the U.S.’ immigration system, including a scheme whereby undocumented immigrants would be allowed to stay in the U.S. if they paid “back taxes.”
However, in an interview last week with CNN, the Republican candidate appeared to change his mind, and suggested there would be no legal status for the nearly 11 million immigrants in the U.S.
“[T]here is no path to legalization unless people leave the country. When they come back in, if they come back in, then they can start paying taxes but there is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and come back,” Trump said.
Trump added that “bad dudes,” of whom he said there are “probably millions,” would be sent back immediately if he wins the White House this fall.
And as for the undocumented non-“bad dudes” who are in the U.S. right now, Trump was not clear what he planned to do with them, and would only say “there is a very good chance” they would also be sent back.
“It’s a process. You can’t take 11 [million] at one time and just say: ‘Boom, you’re gone,'” he said.
Trump’s remarks last Thursday come amid reports he has “softened” his tone on immigration, a claim he denied in his interview with Cooper.
“I don’t think it’s a softening,” he said. “I’ve had people say it’s a hardening, actually.”
The Republican nominee’s campaign manager, GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway, attempted Tuesday evening to clarify the candidate’s position on immigration reform.
“You will hear consistent Donald Trump in this way. No amnesty, no legalization, no sanctuary cities,” she said in an interview on Fox News.
“The people who have committed a crime are gone. And then he wants to see what we are left with. Is it 5 million? Is it 10 million? Is it 30 million? He will address that tomorrow and I think you will see one of the toughest speeches on illegal immigration in modern political history,” she said.
