Campaign Manager: Trump's Immigration Stance 'Has Not Changed One Inch'
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Across the Sunday news shows, a parade of Trump stand-ins, led by vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, couldn't say whether Trump was sticking with or changing a central promise to boot the roughly 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally, with the help of a "deportation force."
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Pence and other Trump surrogates insisted the GOP presidential nominee has been "absolutely consistent" on his immigration policy and in coming weeks will outline more details that line up with his principles of tightening U.S. laws in a "humane" way.
Asked whether the "deportation force" proposal Trump laid out in November is still in place, Pence replied: "Well, what you heard him describe there, in his usual plainspoken, American way, was a mechanism, not a policy."
The Indiana governor said the main tenets of Trump's immigration plan will include building a wall along the southern U.S. border and making Mexico pay for it, no path to legalization or citizenship for people here illegally and stronger border enforcement. Pence also did not answer whether the campaign believes, as Trump has said, that children born to people who are in the U.S. illegally are not U.S. citizens.
"The whole question of anchor babies, as it's known, the whole question of citizenship, of natural-born Americans is a subject for the future," Pence said.
Native-born children of immigrants, even those living illegally in the U.S., have been automatically considered American citizens since the adoption of the 14th Amendment in 1868.
Trump has focused lately on deporting people who are in the U.S. illegally and who have committed crimes. But who Trump considers a criminal remained unclear Sunday.
In an interview with CBS News, Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence said a Trump administration would "enforce the laws" in a "humane way."
"Those are the things that Donald Trump is going to answer. And this is not a simple question," said Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman who's had a difficult relationship with Trump.
Pressed on the question, Priebus replied: "I just don't speak for Donald Trump."
Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said the candidate has said that people who want to be in the U.S. legally must apply through legal means.
"We all learned in kindergarten to stand in line and wait our turn, and he is not talking about a deportation force," she said. "But he is talking about being fair and humane, but also being fair to the American workers competing for jobs."
Conway added that Trump's stance on undocumented immigrants has not changed.
"First, there is still no amnesty. Secondly, he is building that wall. That has been the centerpiece of his candidacy and his immigration vision from the beginning and it has not changed one inch," Conway told CBS' "Face the Nation."
Other Trump stand-ins, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, spoke similarly, a striking indication that even they don't know the answer to such a critical question just as Trump has promised to streamline the campaign for the grueling final stretch.
Trump tweeted Sunday evening that he will give a major immigration speech on Wednesday in Arizona.
"I will be making a major speech on ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION on Wednesday in the GREAT State of Arizona. Big crowds, looking for a larger venue," Trump tweeted.
Recent polls indicate Clinton is ahead in some of the most competitive and pivotal states. The first presidential debate is set for Sept. 26.
Trump in recent days has suggested he might be "softening" on the deportation force and that he might be open to allowing at least some immigrants in the country illegally to stay, as long as they pay taxes.
But by Thursday, he was ruling out any kind of legal status -- "unless they leave the country and come back," he told CNN.
However, Trump supporters didn't bother defending his response Saturday to the killing of a mother as she walked her baby on a Chicago street.
"Dwyane Wade's cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago,'' Trump wrote Saturday. "Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!''
His surrogates on Sunday refused to comment on Trump's reaction to the fatal shooting of NBA star Dwyane Wade's cousin Friday, as she pushed her baby in a stroller in Chicago.
Trump's first tweet about the shooting ended this way: "Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!"
A few hours later, he followed up with a tweet offering condolences to Wade and his family. "They are in my thoughts and prayers."
Asked whether the initial tweet was presidential or appropriate, GOP officials and campaign advisers instead talked about reducing crime or said they were pleased Trump followed up with a tweet of condolence and empathy.
Christie said the media "focus on process ... instead of the message." He said the killing of someone pushing a stroller "is unacceptable in an American city" and that "the level of violence in Chicago is unacceptable."
On the Democratic side, Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazille defended Clinton after Trump called her a bigot last week.
"Donald Trump has not held an event in the black community. He has not gone to a black church, as Hillary Clinton has done," Brazille said.
Clinton spent the day fundraising in the Hamptons, as Trump held no public events Sunday.
Clinton will continue her fundraising Monday in New York, while Trump is set to campaign on the West Coast this week.
Pence appeared on CNN's "State of the Union," Priebus was on NBC's "Meet the Press," Christie was interviewed on ABC's "This Week" and Conway was on Fox and CBS' "Face the Nation."
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