Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence predicted Wednesday that Donald Trump’s meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto could help set the stage for immigration talks between the two nations at some point, and called it “the beginning of a conversation.”
“Well, I think it’s going to be a meeting between two leaders. I know that Donald Trump was grateful for the invitation, and like any good leader, he knows that good negotiations begin with good relationships, so what I think the American people are seeing today is the kind of decisive president Donald Trump will be,” Pence said on CNN.
“He gets an invitation late last week from the president of Mexico and essentially drops what he’s doing to sit down, have a private conversation and begin a relationship where we can talk about the issues that we’ve got to resolve between the United States and Mexico, but also about the issues that we’re both struggling with in common,” Pence said. “Today is really the beginning of a conversation. Negotiations will follow this, but it all proceeds out of relationships.”
Trump’s meeting is set to take place only hours before he will deliver a highly anticipated speech in Arizona on immigration, which comes after deviations from him and his campaign on the issue, particularly on what to do with the 11 million illegal immigrants. In the past, Trump has called for a “deportation force” to remove them, but he made waves when he indicated he was willing to bend on that issue.
However, his campaign in recent days has returned to tough talk, saying the 11 million illegals have to go. Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told NBC Wednesday that Trump will not reverse his position on that issue in his speech, and said he will enforce the laws on the books.
“You will not see a reversal,” Conway said. “If you look at his speech at the convention, which is when I think, when you’re accepting the Republican nomination, you’re laying out your vision as a would-be president. If you look at that speech, he does not talk about a deportation force there, but he makes very clear that he hasn’t changed his position in terms of enforcing law.”
“Do you know what might happen if we actually enforce the immigration laws? I don’t because we never bother to do so,” Conway continued. “There are immigration agencies. We have ICE obviously. We have law enforcement. We have many people that should be consulted and part of the process, part of the spectrum of responsible actors here. That’s not happening in this administration. Mrs. Clinton has made clear she would not follow that either, so we’re going to be the ones to enforce the law.”
Trump’s speech on immigration is slated for 9 p.m. EST.
