Donald Trump pushed back against a new report intimating that he might be open to legalizing immigrants who are already in the United States, saying that he wants a “fair but firm” solution for the problem.
Appearing on “Fox and Friends” Monday morning, Trump brushed aside a new piece by BuzzFeed, which reported that he hinted to his Hispanic advisory council that he is looking for a “humane and efficient” way to deal with the 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. even though he is approaching the situation from a security perspective.
“We’re dealing with people. We have to be very firm. We have to be very, very strong when people come in illegally. We have a lot of people that want to come in through the legal process,” Trump told Fox. “It’s not fair for them. And we’re working with a lot of people in the Hispanic community to try and come up with an answer.”
When pressed on whether he is flip-flopping on the issue, Trump point blank said he is not.
“No, I’m not flip-flopping,” Trump said. “We want to come up with a fair but firm answer. Has to be very firm. But we want to come up with something fair. ”
Soon after the report emerged on Saturday afternoon, the Trump campaign and surrogates shot down the notion that he was changing his policy. However, the story made news given Trump’s past rhetoric about the 11 million illegal immigrants, including the floating of a “deportation force” to remove them from the country.
