President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a hard-line stance toward immigration — at one point he proposed a deportation force that would round up and deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
Later in his campaign he appeared to soften that stance and said law-abiding immigrants who have lived in the country for years might be allowed to stay if they paid back taxes. He also expressed some trepidation over breaking up families through deportation — and at one point he even asked an audience what they thought he should do.
Then he changed his mind again, saying he would not grant legal status unless an undocumented immigrant first returned to his or her home country and applied to be admitted to the United States. That process can take years.
The 10-point immigration plan he announced in Phoenix on Aug. 31 included efforts to block federal funding to sanctuary cities, to deport criminal aliens on "day one" of his presidency, to triple the number of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and to stop issuing visas to immigrants from countries where applicants cannot be screened.
The plan also included strengthening workplace enforcement to deter the hiring of undocumented immigrants and fully implementing biometric tracking at ports of entry and airports.
Trump already started gathering immigration hard-liners as he prepares to take office. Kris Kobach, Kansas’ secretary of state and co-author of Arizona’s controversial 2010 immigration law known as SB 1070, told a Wichita TV station he was chosen to help Trump formulate immigration policy as part of his transition team.
Investors appear to be taking Trump at his word about cracking down on illegal immigration.
Private prison company CoreCivic--until late October known as Corrections Corporation of America--saw its stock price shoot up 36 percent the morning after Trump's victory. The company runs detention facilities in Eloy and Florence where many undocumented immigrants. Another private prison company, GEO Group, saw its stock price rise 17 percent.
In Arizona, home to more than 300,000 undocumented immigrants, an AP exit poll on Nov. 8 showed that about 1 in 10 voters said immigration was the most pressing issue facing the country.
A majority rejected Trump’s call to deport people who entered the country illegally and his proposal to build a border wall. Three-quarters of Arizona voters support a path to legal status for immigrants, the poll found.
