Trump's latest immigration plan: No path to legalization unless people leave the country

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

On Thursday, Donald Trump shared with CNN's Anderson Cooper his latest stance when it comes to immigration: No legal status for undocumented immigrants.

It's not clear, though, if Trump would try to deport immigrants who have lived in the U.S. peacefully for years, maybe with their families. "There is a very good chance the answer could be yes," Trump told Cooper. "We're going to see what happens."

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Trump went on to say that on day one of his presidency, he'll give law enforcement authorization to deport the "bad dudes." When Cooper asked him how he might go about deporting the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., Trump responded, "It's a process. You can't take 11 at one time and just say, 'Boom, you're gone.'"

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.