Donald Trump still determined to deport 11 million illegal immigrants from the US?

The pledge to deport 11 million illegal immigrants from the US in less than 2 years is one of billionaire Donald Trump's strongest commitments.

“They all have to leave,” the American billionaire and Republican presidential candidate declared in August 2015.

Billionaire Trump is facing a difficult choice on whether to fulfill his commitment to expel 11 million illegal immigrants from the US. Photo: AP

Easy to say, hard to do

However, according toCSMKellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump's new campaign manager, announced on August 21 that, up to this point, it is still unclear what Mr. Trump's views are on fulfilling the above commitment.

Meanwhile, when asked about how Mr. Trump will handle the number of illegal immigrants who have arrived in the US, Arizona Senator Jeff Sessions said that Mr. Trump "has consulted and listened to the recommendations of an advisory board of 23 Latin American businessmen and senior clergy [Latino Americans who illegally immigrated to the US are also the target of billionaire Trump's deportation-ND].

Although Mr. Trump did not announce his immigration policy until August 25, the statements of Ms. Conway and Mr. Session have further fueled speculation about whether Mr. Trump will change his plan to deport 11 million illegal immigrants from the United States.

Journalist Aaron Blake of the newspaperWashington Postcommented: “Mr. Trump’s views on immigration have changed compared to before. He is not the type of person who is steadfast in his policies. However, this is a very important issue in Mr. Trump’s previous commitments. Therefore, his decision to change midway is very remarkable.”

Although Trump campaigners have denied the above information and said that nothing has changed in the American billionaire's commitment, in reality, everything has clearly changed.

Opening the way for illegal immigrants

Even considering Ms. Conway’s statement that things would “be decided soon,” her words were completely out of step with what Mr. Trump had previously asserted.

Even though she had two opportunities to reaffirm that Mr. Trump would fulfill his commitment to expel all 11 million illegal immigrants from the United States, Ms. Conway refused to confirm this.

Instead, Ms. Conway stated: “What Mr. Trump has always advocated is that we need to enforce the law and respect Americans who want to find good jobs and that we always treat the people who live with us in the United States fairly and humanely. We need to treat the 11 million people who have immigrated to the United States that way.”

Ms. Conway's statement was made just one day before,BuzzfeedandUnivisionTrump and his Republican campaign team are reportedly considering a “legal pathway” for illegal immigrants to the United States, after President Obama’s amnesty program for them was halted by the US Supreme Court in June.

BuzzfeedThree members of Mr. Trump's advisory board revealed that the American billionaire really liked this idea. "Although they did not publicly use the phrase 'legalization' at the meeting, these people said they felt this was the direction Mr. Trump's campaign was heading," according to journalist Adrian Carrasquillo ofBuzzfeedshare.

Meanwhile, journalist Eduardo Suárez ofUnivisionThe immigration policy that Mr. Trump plans to present on August 25 will include “finding a legal way for millions of illegal immigrants in the United States to stay,” the report said.

In response, Senator Sessions emphasized that Mr. Trump “has not made any specific commitments” in the above meeting. However, according to Mr. Sessions: “He has listened and will clarify this issue” and said that the American billionaire is struggling to think about how to handle the above illegal immigrants in the US.

The "unimaginable" scenario if 11 million people were expelled from the US

Throughout his election campaign, Mr. Trump repeatedly mentioned a program to force illegal immigrants to leave the US in numbers 28 times larger than the current number (about 400,000 people/year).

In addition, Mr. Trump also pledged to send 10 times more immigrants to Mexico than Operation Wetback, which the late US President Eisenhower carried out in 1954.

“I can’t imagine how we could get 11 million people out of the United States in just a few years when the United States is not a police state and the police can’t just knock on your door and take you out of your house at will,” said Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush.

Many experts say that implementing Mr. Trump's plan could force US police to conduct large-scale searches of all factories, farms, restaurants and construction sites across the United States.

In addition, the FBI and many other US security agencies will have to spend a lot of manpower to force illegal immigrants to leave the US.

According to VOV