Trump on Dealing with Illegals: ‘It’s Called Management’
GEIST: "Maureen White is retired special ed teacher. She is a teacher for 42 years, registered Republican, undecided."
WHITE: "Mr. Trump, I would like to ask you what your specific action plan would be for dealing with the large number, millions of illegal immigrants currently in the United States that are drawing on our resources?"
TRUMP: "Oh, you're going to vote for me because I'm only one doing it. If you look at Carson, he's very weak on illegal immigration. If you look at Bush, he said they come in for love. If you look at Rubio, he was a member of the Gang of Eight. I mean, he's way down anyway, but this guy was so weak and then all of a sudden he said, well, maybe I can't do that because he went down. They are all weak on immigration. I'm only one that's really, really strong. Number one, I'm building a wall, they are not coming in anymore. Number two, immediately, we're building a wall (Applause) And by the way, Mexico is paying for the wall. Oh, everyone says how -- it's easy. We're losing $45 billion a year in terms of our imbalance with Mexico. Mexico is paying for the wall. We're building a wall. I get along great with Mexico. I love the Mexican people. They are incredible people and I have thousands of Hispanics that work for me. I was at Doral the other day, all Hispanic, and they gave me standing ovations."
LAUER: "Let me interrupt you for a second."
TRUMP: "Yes."
LAUER: "Specifically, because you used the word specifically --"
WHITE: "Specific actions, please."
TRUMP: "I said I'm building a wall."
LAUER: "Well, for example, just getting 11 million illegal or undocument immigrants out of the country; transportation, housing them in the process."
TRUMP: "It's called management."
LAUER: "What's the specific plan?"
TRUMP: "You understand I think maybe perhaps better than that. It's called -- we have a country, and they are here illegally and we're going to -- some are excellent people. They are great people and they are going out and going to come back in legally. We'll expedite it. We'll expedite the process but we either have a country or we don't have a country and they are coming back legally and the bad ones are never coming back again. A lot of the gangs that you see in Los Angeles, you see the gangs in Los Angeles? Half of these gangs are made up of illegal immigrants. These are rough dudes. I guarantee you, my first day -- and the cops are fantastic. The police are fantastic. They know the good ones. They know the bad ones."
LAUER: "A massive movement of people."
TRUMP: "The bad ones are getting out."
LAUER: "A massive movement of people. Do you have a business plan? Do you have a plan on paper to accomplish it?"
TRUMP: "We lose $250 billion a year on illegal immigration. That's what we lose. If we clean up the mess, we don't even know -- you said 11 million. Nobody knows what the number is. They are going out and they are coming back in legally. That's the way it has to be."
LAUER: "Maureen, did he answer your question specifically?"
WHITE: "Not quite, but I do know -- I have read his position papers, and he does have an outline."
TRUMP: "Very detailed. It's very detailed Do you know that Dwight Eisenhower who is a nice man, general, in the 1950s, do you know that he moved over a million people out? And what he did he brought them to the border and they came right back; brought them to the board and they came right back. And then they took them and moved all the way down south and they never came back. But Dwight Eisenhower moved over a million, actually a 1.5 million people back in to the south through the border because it was a huge problem. Nobody ever mentions it. It was a major operation, 1.5 million people which is maybe the equivalent in those days, and he moved them out because we had a huge problem in the 1950s. Nobody ever talks about it."
