Donald Trump at U.S.-Mexico border last Friday. His comments there got him in hot water with conservative immigration groups.
Two organizations that lobby for less immigration have turned sour on Donald Trump.
Americans for Legal Immigration or ALIPAC has added Trump to its blacklist while Numbers USA has downgraded the real-estate magnate in its candidate rating scorecard.
ALIPAC President William Gheen issued a statement Tuesday saying his organization has added Trump to its list of “amnesty supporting” candidates, alongside Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham and Mike Huckabee.
“After coming out strong for a secure border and bringing attention to illegal immigrant crimes against Americans, Donald Trump is now promoting his plan to change America’s existing immigration laws to create a merit system by which illegals currently in America can stay and eventually gain voting rights where they are expected to help Democrats dominate U.S. elections forevermore,” Gheen said.
‘Good ones’ vs. ‘bad ones’
The change of heart came as a result of Trump’s statements last Friday when he visited the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump then fell further out of favor after making comments Monday night to Fox News host Sean Hannity.
“The last thing anyone expected to hear out of Mr. Trump’s mouth last night was a plan that Lindsey Graham or John McCain could probably vote for,” Gheen said of the comments Trump made on Hannity’s program.
Watch clip of interview Hannity had with Trump below:
Trump told Hannity that illegals should be sent back to their home countries and the “bad ones” never get allowed to come back. But the “good ones,” those without criminal records, should be allowed back into the U.S. under a new “expedited” process that makes them legal, Trump said.
“This is an old Republican trick we’ve had a lot of experience with in the past; it’s called the ‘touch-back provision’ or the Pence Plan named after Congressman Mike Pence from Indiana,” Gheen said. “Here’s the thing, existing American law says illegal immigrants must leave and if they are caught and deported by the government they are prohibited from re-applying for entry but they can appeal that prohibition after 10 years. Congress wisely made this the law, otherwise the estimated 1 billion people on planet earth who want to come to America could just come and apply later.
“Most Americans want to hear that America’s laws will be enforced, not make new laws or change the laws to accommodate the law-breakers,” he added. “Americans like us want a constitutional government, not a Republican dictator to take over for the Democratic dictator we have in power now. “
Numbers USA also downgrades Trump, upgrades Walker
GOP Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin
Numbers USA, the largest of the organizations supporting lower levels of immigration, downgraded its candidate rating for Trump, also citing Trump’s statements during last week’s border visit.
Numbers USA grades candidates on three areas: Amnesty for illegals, level of support for reducing legal immigration, and border security enforcement. It then assigns an overall grade. Below is its score for Trump.
HARMFUL — Amnesty Rating
UNHELPFUL — Reducing Legal Immigration
GOOD — Interior Enforcement Rating
C — Overall Immigration Grade
Numbers USA contrasted Trump’s statement at the border with the statements of Scott Walker. Both were in the process of being “boxed in” by unfriendly media and Trump failed the test, according to an article by Numbers USA Executive Director Roy Beck.
Here is how Beck described the contrast based on comments by Trump, Walker and Rick Santorum:
“Donald Trump, Scott Walker and Rick Santorum revealed important things about themselves in high-pressure moments this past week, surrounded by the cameras and tape recorders of national media.
“Trump on national TV and on the Arizona border stumbled and let himself get boxed into saying he would offer amnesty to the illegal aliens who aren’t the ‘bad ones.’ He seemed to be defensive and trying to prove that he isn’t hostile to immigrants by also indicating he would like to see legal immigration increased.
“But Walker — ambushed by an illegal-alien family brought to Iowa to confront him in front of the national press corps — refused to be intimidated, stood strong and unapologetic about the importance of the rule of law, and declined to concede an amnesty.”
Santorum gets kudos for handling PBS interview
Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn.
Rick Santorum in an interview on PBS also resisted being trapped into talking about immigration issues within the parameters set by the establishment media.
“Instead, he deftly turned the high-profile TV appearance into an appeal to set immigration policy to benefit workers and poor people,” Beck wrote.
Beck said Trump has also failed to weigh in with details on how he would increase border security. So the enigma known as “The Donald” continues to be unpredictable.
“Our Numbers USA Grading Team reviewed all grades and comments of the 21 Presidential Hopefuls at the end of the week and demoted Trump in two categories and lowered his overall grade,” Beck wrote.
Grading other candidates
Here are all of the immigration “report cards” handed out by Numbers USA this week based on comments made in the past seven days (those whose grades have not changed are not included):
- Ted Cruz: C
- Ben Carson: C-
- Chris Christie: C-
- Mike Huckabee: C-
- Martin O’Malley: F-
- Rick Santorum: A
- Donald Trump: C
- Scott Walker: B-
“It was a strange turn of events for Trump who dominated the news all week in his tenacious attempts to stand up for the crime victims of illegal immigration, igniting a national debate about ‘sanctuary cities’ that led to the U.S. House passing a bill to defund such local governments,” he continued. “However, he still has not weighed in on what he would do about interior enforcement policies other than sanctuary cities. Thus, there was not a reason to raise his rating in Interior Enforcement.”
Gheen, like Beck, conceded that Trump has accomplished a lot by bringing the dark side of immigration into the national spotlight.
“We owe Donald Trump a big debt of gratitude for using his influence and star power to bring attention to some examples of the thousands of Americans being killed by the longstanding policy of inadequate enforcement of America’s existing laws,” said Gheen. “Trump was really sounding like something new until he fell in line with the amnesty lackeys of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. We need a presidential candidate who will fully enforce our existing laws instead of undermining enforcement with talk of changing our laws to accommodate millions of imported illegal alien socialist voters.
“So it was a very sad situation that we had to put Trump at the top of our (negative) list today.”
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