Donald Trump showed he’s listening to Americans by switching some of his speech about illegal immigrants, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie argued Sunday morning.
While Trump issued a strong call to deport illegal immigrants in a Phoenix speech this week, he’s also recently appeared to suggest he might not immediately try to deport all 11 million if elected president.
If Trump were to back policies allowing some illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S., it would be a sharp contrast to his promises through most of the campaign to round up all of them for deportation.
But Christie, who is helping the Trump campaign and is one of his most vocal supporters, said Trump’s apparent switch on the issue shows he’s listening.
“We want candidates and leaders to listen, and if they hear new information or different information that leads them to conclude new things … we don’t want people stuck in cement,” Christie said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Trump hasn’t been clear about how he’d approach allowing some immigrants to remain. Christie tried to clarify during his CBS interview, saying Trump would deport those who have committed other crimes, and then “pause” to figure out how to handle the rest.
“Let’s be clear, Trump will get rid of the 2 to 3 million criminals who are here illegally,” Christie said. “I think what Donald Trump wants to do then is take a deep breath and look at where we are in the country then, and look at how to deal with those who remain.”
