Evan Vucci / AP
In a meeting with his newly announced Hispanic advisory council, Donald Trump suggested he is interested in figuring out a "humane and efficient" manner to deal with immigrants in the country illegally, according to three sources, while stressing that it will still be in line with the border security-focused approach that has invited intense opposition from Latinos and immigrants since he launched his campaign.
"He said people who are here is the toughest part of the immigration debate, that it must be something that respects border security but deals with this in a humane and efficient manner," said Jacob Monty, a Houston-based immigration lawyer who sat in Trump Tower with other Latino supporters and Trump.
"The idea is we’re not getting someone in front of the line, we're doing it in a legal way, but he wants to hear ideas of how we deal with 11 million people that are here with no documents," said Jose Fuentes, who was chair of Mitt Romney's Hispanic advisory committee in 2012, and attended the meeting.
Importantly, Trump did not explicitly use the word "legalization," but people in the room feel it is the direction the campaign is going.
Trump had planned to meet with Hispanic leaders Friday, but instead went to Louisiana to observe the aftermath of flooding in the state. The group met without him, though, and one participant said the campaign accepted the idea of a task force to present ideas on how to accommodate undocumented workers short of amnesty.
"They want to put together a task force very much like the Ronald Reagan days, with the exception of amnesty," said Jerry Natividad, a Hispanic Republican from Colorado who was at the Friday meeting. "I believe the campaign is very open to taking the initiative on this," he said.
Trump will plainly struggle to convince many skeptical and frankly disdainful Latino voters that his effort to cozy up to the Hispanic community, much like a similar effort aimed at black voters, isn't just the result of sliding poll numbers, rather than a warming heart.
"It's a sign of desperation," said Frank Sharry, a veteran of legislative immigration battles for America's Voice. "Trump wants to fool these Republicans uncomfortable with his racism and bigotry that he's pivoting. But a late head fake won't be taken seriously by Latinos and their allies."
To the Hispanic Republicans in the room excited about a more palpable Trump, though, it didn't seem like pandering at all.
"He didn’t need to pander to us, everyone in that room is already supporting him," Monty said.
Source BuzzFeed - Politics http://ift.tt/2b8KIG9
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