Trump: Soft on Immigration?

[Likely Voter]

You might think that Trump is for reducing legal immigration, building a wall across the entire Mexico border and deporting the current undocumented, but this week when pressed on those issues it turns out he actually isn't.  And some people are starting to notice....

Weekly Standard: Trump Suggests He May Be Open To Amnesty &
 Trump: We Should 'Work Something Out' for Illegals With 'Merit'

Daily Caller: Donald Trump On Amnesty: 'If Somebody's Been Outstanding, We Try And Work Something Out' [VIDEO]

CSMonitor: Merit-based migrants: Is Donald Trump softening on illegal immigration?

IBT: Election 2016: Donald Trump Mum On Amnesty, Immigrants' Futures

Bloomberg: Trump Says He's 'Big Believer' in Merit-Based Immigration System

CNN: What is Trump's actual position on immigration?

Is this the thing that will bring down Trump? That he really isnt as hardline on his signature issue as his bloviating might indicate?

Seems to me that someone like Scott Walker has an opportunity to get to the right of Trump on immigration, just like Romney did to Perry and Gingrich. Take a page out of the Rove playbook. You dont attack someone on their weekness, but on their strength.

[dudeabides]

Donald Trump is weak on immigration, taxes, health care, eminent domain, bailouts, and abortion.

[Bull Moose Base]

Has Trump ever said he was for reducing legal immigration? The only candidate I know who has expressed that is Scott Walker, prompting even Ted Cruz to attack him from the left. On amnesty, Scott Walker was for it, flipped before getting in the race, and has since had a muddled position on it. Cruz, who actually has consistently opposed amnesty to my knowledge, is showing no sign of going after Trump. I agree Walker might go after Trump on this but I actually think it'd be a stupid move for a few reasons. Whether Walker will see that I don't know.

[GLPman]

Thanks for compiling these sources. It's no secret that Trump is a weak candidate, but it's too bad that more people do not come to terms with it.

[cwt]

Most Americans are "soft" on immigration.

He's just taking the popular opinion.

[Vega]

This isn't about illegal immigration, so no, he's not soft.

[Leinad]

Has Trump ever said he was for reducing legal immigration? The only candidate I know who has expressed that is Scott Walker, prompting even Ted Cruz to attack him from the left. On amnesty, Scott Walker was for it, flipped before getting in the race, and has since had a muddled position on it. Cruz, who actually has consistently opposed amnesty to my knowledge, is showing no sign of going after Trump. I agree Walker might go after Trump on this but I actually think it'd be a stupid move for a few reasons. Whether Walker will see that I don't know.

Doesn't Santorum want to reduce legal immigration?

[dudeabides]

Has Trump ever said he was for reducing legal immigration? The only candidate I know who has expressed that is Scott Walker, prompting even Ted Cruz to attack him from the left. On amnesty, Scott Walker was for it, flipped before getting in the race, and has since had a muddled position on it. Cruz, who actually has consistently opposed amnesty to my knowledge, is showing no sign of going after Trump. I agree Walker might go after Trump on this but I actually think it'd be a stupid move for a few reasons. Whether Walker will see that I don't know.

Doesn't Santorum want to reduce legal immigration?

Yes. Another genius........

[Likely Voter]

Apparently Trump saw this vulnerability and he has now clarified....

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/29/politics/donald-trump-immigration-plan-healthcare-flip-flop/

So he is for mass deportation and amnesty. Unclear why we would go to the trouble of sending all of the 'good people' back to their home countries only to 'bring em back', not to mention the logisitics and cost of the whole thing. But it's Trump so best not to dig too deep.

[King]

The hardest thing the Republicans here and everywhere need to come to terms with is that a good portion of their supporters don't care about issues at all. They just want a loud, white, tall, aggressive male to lead their country.

Trump's not-so-conservative positions aren't going to doom him. In fact, they are potentially more damaging to his opponents. He can agenda set. Trump's style can define conservatism. Anything he believes, he will convince a cross section of less informed Republican voters to believe that to be the conservative position.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The thing is, the sort of people republicans have courted over the past decade or so - although considering themselves conservatives - are far closer to (for lack of a better word) Trumpian conservatism, than the pro-business stylings of the leadership or even the libertarianesque ethos of more typical Teas. trump evokes the same feelings as Nigel Farge or Geert Wilders, who both aren't particularly economically conservative but style themselves as conservative populist heroes.

[Zezano]

This isn't about illegal immigration, so no, he's not soft.

It's not about legal versus illegals but about the mass numbers. As far as I know Donald Trump has not came out against legal immigration.

[Likely Voter]

The editor of Breitbart has picked up on Trump's comments to CNN (about deporting all the illegals  and then bringing them back legally). ....

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2015/07/30/trump-goes-mushy-incoherent-on-immigration/