Clinton camp pounces on Donald Trump's immigration comments
On Thursday, Hillary Clinton's running mate Tim Kaine drew a comparison between Donald Trump's remarks on Mexican immigrants Wednesday night and discriminatory stances on Irish, Italian, and European Jewish immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries. "Pretty much any group that's come into this country that has made our nation such a fantastic nation — they faced a few people who were saying bad things about them, who said 'no Irish need apply,'" said the Democratic vice presidential candidate. "That was the speech that Donald Trump gave last night."
Trump on Wednesday traveled to Mexico to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto. The two appeared in a joint press conference, during which Trump said both men agreed each country should have the right to build a physical barrier on the border, but that paying for such a construction had not been discussed. Following their meeting, Peña Nieto claimed he had told Trump unequivocally that Mexico would not pay for such a wall — prompting Clinton to declare that Trump had "failed his first foreign test."
After leaving Mexico, Trump traveled to Arizona, where he outlined a 10-point immigration plan that included deporting millions of "criminal aliens," building an "impenetrable, tall, powerful, [and] beautiful" border wall, and issuing "detainers for illegal immigrants arrested for any crime whatsoever." Trump portrayed his plan as a path towards making "illegal immigration a memory of the past"; Kaine, however, described it as "a rampage with words of division, [basically] trashing people who are Mexican-American."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Political cartoons for January 29Cartoons Thursday's political cartoons include 2nd amendment dibs, disturbing news, and AI-inflated bills
-
The Flower Bearers: ‘a visceral depiction of violence, loss and emotional destruction’The Week Recommends Rachel Eliza Griffiths’ ‘open wound of a memoir’ is also a powerful ‘love story’ and a ‘portrait of sisterhood’
-
Steal: ‘glossy’ Amazon Prime thriller starring Sophie TurnerThe Week Recommends The Game of Thrones alumna dazzles as a ‘disillusioned twentysomething’ whose life takes a dramatic turn during a financial heist
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged