Should he make it to the Oval Office, Donald Trump claims he would accompany tough enforcement of his hardline immigration plan with a dose of compassion.
The leading Republican hopeful fielded questions from Larry King in a pre-taped podcast released Monday, including one about illegal immigration that he was rather reluctant to answer.
“I’ll ask you a from-the-heart question, okay Donald?” the former nightly television personality told Trump.
King proposed the following hypothetical: “Supposing a guy came over to you and he said, ‘I was an illegal immigrant twenty years ago. I took a job picking something in the fields in California, and now I’m the foreman there. I’ve got two children — one is a high school athlete the other, my daughter, is into gymnastics. I’ve been here illegally for twenty — fifteen, twenty years. You want me to go back?'”
“I don’t want to comment on that one right now,” Trump said, ducking the question. “That’s the sort of a question where I just don’t want to answer it right now.”
He continued, “We do have to have laws for the border — the crime is incredible, the drug trafficking is unbelievable. And I have to tell you, I’ve been told by many of your liberal friends at the top of the line, in Los Angeles as an example, that they’re voting for me because they can’t take it anymore.”
Trump outlined his comprehensive plan to overhaul the nation’s immigration system in a position paper August. His proposals included a “mandatory … return of all criminal aliens” and the detention of illegal immigrants caught crossing the border until they are sent home.
“Why can’t you say deport them all?” King asked the billionaire Monday.
“Well, I just — I don’t want to get into your specific question, but we will we will do something that will be done with heart,” Trump responded.
Over the weekend, Trump celebrated reaching 100 consecutive days at the top of the Republican presidential field. He will join nine of his opponents in Boulder, Colo. on Wednesday for the third GOP debate.
