ANALYSIS: Trump’s Immigration Plan Is Mixed Bag of Good Sense and Protectionism

By Published on August 17, 2015

On Sunday, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump released his long-awaited detailed immigration plan. Many, including this author, have criticized Trump for his lack of details and his vagaries on key issues including immigration. Those criticisms are now obsolete – Trump’s immigration plan is highly specific.

Most of all, Trump’s immigration plan will now force the other Republican candidates into a corner: Trump has outflanked them on the right on what may be the key issue for a huge percentage of the Republican base, who feel that Democratic political dominance springs from a purposefully-pursued demographic shift in the country.

Trump apparently sought heavy advice from Senator Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), an undoubted expert on the immigration issue, and the Senate’s top hard-liner on it. The advice shows: Trump isn’t just focused on ending illegal immigration, he’s focused on seriously curtailing legal immigration, including vaunted allegedly high-tech H-1B visas.

Trump’s plan begins by ripping Senator Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a candidate considered a possible favorite of the establishment, calling Rubio’s immigration reform bill “nothing more than a giveaway to the corporate patrons who run both parties.” Trump’s website then continues:

Real immigration reform puts the needs of working people first – not wealthy globetrotting donors. We are the only country in the world whose immigration system puts the needs of other nations ahead of our own. That must change. Here are the three core principles of real immigration reform:

1. A nation without borders is not a nation. There must be a wall across the southern border.

2. A nation without laws is not a nation. Laws passed in accordance with our Constitutional system of government must be enforced.

3. A nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation. Any immigration plan must improve jobs, wages and security for all Americans.

It would be difficult for any Republican to argue with these core principles. By framing the issue in terms of borders, laws, and national interest, Trump firmly thrusts other Republican candidates into the uncomfortable position of either backing his plan or a variant thereof, or of rejecting his plan and being labeled lawless and corporate-backed. It’s smart politics.

Read the article “ANALYSIS: Trump’s Immigration Plan Is Mixed Bag of Good Sense and Protectionism” on breitbart.com.

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