Ben Carson defends Donald Trump's immigration flip-flops: 'It is what it is'

Ben Carson discusses Donald Trump's shifting immigration policy
(Image credit: CNN/YouTube)

On CNN Tuesday evening, Jake Tapper asked Donald Trump supporter and former rival Dr. Ben Carson about Trump's shifting positions on immigration, sometimes including hints that he won't in fact be as hardline as he has long promised to be. "As you know better than most," Tapper said, "one of the ways that Donald Trump won was by saying he was going to be tougher than all you guys, that he was going to remove all 11 million undocumented immigrants from this country with a deportation force. Now that seems to be completely evaporating into the ether."

"Well, you know, it's relatively irrelevant at this point because it is what it is," Carson said. "He is the nominee and has to come up with rational and workable plans, has to work with various advisers and experts in terms of the best way to do this, and it needs to be done in a fair and compassionate way that is consistent with the way we in America do things."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.