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 was an apparent shift from comments he made just one day earlier during an appearance on Fox News, when he said "there's no amnesty, but we work with them," and announced that after spending the weekend meeting with Hispanic advisers, his policies "could certainly be softening, because we're not looking to hurt people." When speaking with Cooper, Trump said there is "no path to legalization unless they leave the country. When they come back in, then they can start paying taxes, but there is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and come back." His plan, he said, isn't "a softening. I've had people say it's a hardening, actually."
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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