Thread: Trump Adviser Explains The Donald’s Immigration Plan: ‘The Definition Of Compassion’

Posted By Scott Greer On 12:42 AM 02/23/2016

Donald Trump has captured the public eye with his statements on illegal immigration and the issue is central to his campaign message.

In spite of releasing a immigration policy paper in August, questions still circle around Trump’s approach to immigration and some critics wonder if his rhetoric is just empty bluster.

Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser for the Trump campaign and former communications director for Sen. Jeff Sessions , talked with The Daily Caller to answer questions on how the Republican front-runner approaches immigration and what kind of actions we could expect from a President Trump.

“There’s an overarching principle that covers all immigration policy — three principles to be exact,” Miller told TheDC in a phone interview.

“The first is that a nation without borders is not a nation. You’ve heard [Trump] say many times in many interviews either we’re a country or we’re not. It’s that simple. We’re either a country or we’re not. Similarly, the second principle is a nation without walls is not a nation, which is an extension of the first principle, but in other words. If you have laws, you enforce them,” he said.

“The last principle of the three is that a nation that does not serve its citizens is not a nation, which is to say that the social contract of the country is that the interest group that is served is not special interests, or lobbyists, or transnational corporations, or citizens of other countries. It is the citizens of this country, the United States,” he added.

According to Miller, the last point should be something subscribed to by most politicians, but instead “our immigration system and policies have catered to everyone but American citizens,” particularly when it comes to illegal immigration.

In contrast, Trump’s adviser says the outspoken businessman would tell “the entire world that the day when you can come here illegally is over.”

“Americans for the first time in their lives will wake up in a country where their immigration laws are enforced. That’s a powerful thing. People have been waiting decades for that chance, and now they have it by casting a vote for Donald Trump,” Miller claims.

That enforcement would result in the deportation of illegal immigrants and those who overstay their visas.

But how would a President Trump go about enforcing immigration laws? Will he use that much-feared “deportation force” which many pundits worry about to enforce these policies?

Besides the wall which Trump has promised to build to delineate the U.S.-Mexico border, Miller says enforcing law would simply require expanding and reforming the resources the federal government already has at its disposal.

“We’re going to have a biometric exit/entry tracking system as the law requires, we’re going to triple the number of ICE officers,” he said.

“ICE already has the resources to deport something on the order of about 400,000 people a year with its existing resources,” Miller told TheDC. “And that, of course, is under a current inefficient bureaucratic model.”

The proposals that Trump’s team would like to implement include streamlining the deportation of recent arrivals, replacing “catch and release” policies with mandatory detention for illegals caught within the U.S. and directing the resources and personnel dedicated to implementing President Obama’s executive amnesty to enforcing immigration laws.

“The more you enforce the law, the more future crime goes down and the more resources you have. It’s what Sen. Jeff Sessions has called a virtuous cycle,” the former Sessions aide predicted.

To Trump’s campaign, the most important element to resolving the problem of illegal immigration is eliminating birthright citizenship.

“Birthright citizenship really is the ultimate magnet for illegal immigration,” Miller explained to TheDC. “You can come here under our current policies on a 6-day trip, give birth to a child at a motel, and then your child will be an automatic lifetime U.S. citizen and in turn will be able to chain migrate you and others into the country on green cards.”

He also added that illegal aliens are less likely to be deported if they have a child born in the U.S.

To the man advising Trump on immigration policy, birthright citizenship “is an open, worldwide invitation to ignore America’s immigration laws and an absolute perversion, misinterpretation, misapplication of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

According to Miller, the practice is merely an un-adjudicated custom that’s not in the Constitution, but is “treated by the media and politicians as a truism.”

That’s why Trump emphasizes that it wouldn’t require changing the Constitution in order to end birthright citizenship.

“You could do it through a variety of different means, whether it be legislatively, whether it be through potential guidance that’s issued,” Miller argued.

The Donald’s immigration plan also extends to legal migration and would likely result in a “numerical reduction.”

“We’re going to tighten up refugee programs, asylum programs, guest worker programs, etc. that would all affect a numeric reduction, but also [Trump] talks about with green cards having a requirement to hire American workers first,” Miller said.

He also claimed the proposed temporary ban on Muslim migration would reduce the numbers for legal immigration by halting the influx of a group which comprises over 100,000 visas awarded every year.

[dcquiz] Miller defended Trump’s controversial Muslim moratorium as “an extremely moderate, commonsense, basic step” to strengthening national security. He also claims it “would have very broad, bipartisan support and there’s obviously existing executive authority for suspending visa programs in the Immigration and Nationality Act.”

The Trump aide says that his candidate’s immigration plan is “the definition of compassion” and “prioritizes the interests of the people living here today — our poorest people, those struggling the most, those left behind, as well as our middle-class and our working-class and everybody in between.”

To the Trump camp, “it is uncompassionate and uncaring to pursue a system of open borders and mass migration that eliminates economic mobility, that shrinks the middle class, and that puts a pay raise and job security out of reach.”

http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/23/tr...of-compassion/

Besides the wall which Trump has promised to build to delineate the U.S.-Mexico border, Miller says enforcing law would simply require expanding and reforming the resources the federal government already has at its disposal.

“We’re going to have a biometric exit/entry tracking system as the law requires, we’re going to triple the number of ICE officers,” he said.

“ICE already has the resources to deport something on the order of about 400,000 people a year with its existing resources,” Miller told TheDC. “And that, of course, is under a current inefficient bureaucratic model.”

That's all good. I guess Miller has talked Trump out of his so-called deportation squad. Furthermore, I assume he has also made him see the light on exactly how large a number 20+ illegals actually is. I say that because I see no mention of Trump's previous talking point on deporting all illegals within 18 months. Well, I'm pretty sure most of us knew that wasn't going to happen ...... it just wasn't possible.

Trump is lucky to have Miller on his staff because he is someone who, through his former boss (Sen. Sessions), knows a lot about the issue and what is and isn't realistic.

The biggest step, within government anyway, would be to mandate that ICE enforce ALL immigration law. We all know that there are businesses and industries where illegal immigrants are easy to find. Secondly they could improve the response to citizen tips. We know this has severely lapsed, although DHS has instituted a "See something, say something' policy---in response to terror attacks. Third, they will have to have the US Attorney General's office devise a legal strategy to protect this plan, and deflect the multitude of lawsuits that open borders groups will inaugurate. These have gotten prolific and widespread, and with official renewal of immigration enforcement they are bound to become extremely severe.

Also local jurisdictions that now have liberal, tolerant or sanctuary policies will deliberately test the federal authority to remove illegal aliens. Expect numerous, favorable policies to be enacted under the color of local privilege. Expect these areas to still seek favorable federal rulings in the more liberal federal circuits.

Lastly, unless the chain migration policies are reformed in a hurry, expect illegal immigrant families to move quickly to take advantage of those policies while still feasible. But also expect well crafted lawsuits challenging even the implementation of revised federal policies. And also stalling to try to tun the clock out in court. This means that while illegal parents could be deported the 14 year old children of theirs may just move in with relatives. Expect citizen children to make every effort, including fraudulent, to get their parents back to the US. Expect fraudulent applications and claims everywhere and lots of legal stalling. Expect a lot of outright civil disobedience and huge, underground, out of sight activities.

In short, even with favorable political offices and officials, it will be a Titanic battle. There will have to be some ingenious solutions offered, or it will be like the never ending civil rights struggle all over again.

It's a good thing there's not more detail because the opponents would either steal the ideas and plan or accuse him of being a "jackboot".

Set up the system.....make e-verify MANDATORY for food stamps, welfare and subsidized housing.....they will self-deport....Don't break up the families....take your anchor kids with you!!!!!!!!!!!

They won't self-deport but at least they won't get our stuff! Yes, deport families intact.

I don't see anything with respect to deporting all the illegals that are currently here. The plan is great moving forward, but I don't buy into him hiding his deportation plan. He is either going down the road of amnesty and /or does not want to talk about deportation until after the election. I realize it must be a very electrifying subject.

I was very disappointed to see Scott Greer's article and Stephen Miller's comments miss the biggest question of all. Exactly how many illegal aliens does Trump plan to allow to return to the United States after deportation since such a return would require changing an important deterrent law currently in place that prohibits illegals from applying to return legally for a minimum of 10 years!?!?!?!

W

I am pleased that the issue of birthright citizenship is front and center.

“Birthright citizenship really is the ultimate magnet for illegal immigration,” Miller explained to TheDC. “You can come here under our current policies on a 6-day trip, give birth to a child at a motel, and then your child will be an automatic lifetime U.S. citizen and in turn will be able to chain migrate you and others into the country on green cards.

”

To the man advising Trump on immigration policy, birthright citizenship “is an open, worldwide invitation to ignore America’s immigration laws and an absolute perversion, misinterpretation, misapplication of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

“Americans for the first time in their lives will wake up in a country where their immigration laws are enforced. That’s a powerful thing. People have been waiting decades for that chance, and now they have it by casting a vote for Donald Trump,” Miller claims.

That enforcement would result in the deportation of illegal immigrants and those who overstay their visas.

This is about as close to it in writing as I have seen for the mass deportation. Is he going to claw back or is it just going forward?.