Donald Trump Gambles on Immigration in Mexico and in Speech

By PATRICK HEALY

Donald J. Trump and President Enrique Peña Nieto held a joint press conference in Mexico City on Wednesday. Credit Rodrigo Cruz for The New York Times 
 
Donald J. Trump made an audacious attempt on Wednesday to remake his image on the divisive issue of immigration, shelving his plan to deport 11 million undocumented people and suggesting that the United States and Mexico would solve the immigration crisis together.

In a spirited bid for undecided American voters to see him anew, Mr. Trump swept into Mexico City to make overtures to a nation he has repeatedly denigrated, then flew to Phoenix to outline his latest priorities on immigration — a stark turnaround from the “deportation force” and other severe tactics that helped win him the Republican nomination.

Never had Mr. Trump gambled quite like this. Aiming to appear bold and diplomatic, he traveled to politically hostile territory to meet with a president who might surprise him with a rebuke, and he also risked support from some conservatives who do not want him cozying up to Mexico or softening his immigration plans.

The juxtaposition of his trip to Mexico City with his speech in Phoenix was also bound to jolt voters as well. After a private meeting with President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico, Mr. Trump sought to sound statesmanlike at a joint news conference, even playing down his proposed border wall. But at his rally in Arizona, he whipped up the crowd by promising to build the wall and force Mexico to pay for it.

At the same time, Mr. Trump also said that the fate of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States was no longer a “core issue” and that he would treat most of those immigrants humanely.

“We will treat everyone living or residing in our country with great dignity — so important,” Mr. Trump said. “We will be fair, just, and compassionate to all, but our greatest compassion must be for our American citizens.”

The trip to Mexico City was not without snags. Standing shoulder to shoulder with President Peña Nieto, Mr. Trump indicated that he had pulled a punch and chosen not to discuss his campaign promise to compel Mexico to pay for the wall. Yet Mr. Peña Nieto saw it somewhat differently, saying later on Twitter that at the start of their meeting, “I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall.”

Donald Trump’s Immigration Speech: Analysis

Donald J. Trump delivered a speech in Phoenix on Wednesday that was expected to clarify his shifting stance on hard-line immigration policies, following a trip to Mexico to speak with President Enrique Peña Nieto.

Mr. Peña Nieto did not dispute Mr. Trump at their news conference, however, and Mexican officials said that the two men did not dwell on the wall and that their meeting was conciliatory. Still, campaign advisers to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, accused Mr. Trump of lying, and the Trump campaign issued a statement saying that the meeting was “not a negotiation” and that “it is unsurprising that they hold two different views on this issue.”

 

In Phoenix, Mr. Trump responded to Mr. Peña Nieto with the fiery language that has long been part of his strategy to whip up his crowds.

“Mexico will pay for the wall, believe me — 100 percent — they don’t know it yet, but they will pay for the wall,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re great people, and great leaders, but they will pay for the wall.”

Mr. Trump also said at one point that federal officials might “deport” Mrs. Clinton.

The whirlwind day started after Mr. Trump accepted an invitation from Mr. Peña Nieto to meet him at the presidential palace to discuss economic and border concerns. For the most part they managed to sidestep combustible issues and ignore raging hostility from average Mexicans. Mr. Trump has called them rapists and drug dealers, and he did not apologize for those remarks during a joint news conference when a reporter pressed him for any regrets.

Instead, as an impassive Mr. Peña Nieto looked on, Mr. Trump sounded conciliatory themes about working together to improve border security. Gone, at least for this foreign trip, were the threats about American interests and superiority that have defined Mr. Trump’s candidacy and electrified his supporters.

“We did discuss the wall, we didn’t discuss payment of the wall — that will be for a later date,” Mr. Trump said. “This was a very preliminary meeting. I think it was an excellent meeting.”

Mr. Peña Nieto, who pointedly emphasized goals like “mutual respect” and “constructive” relations several times in his remarks, did Mr. Trump some favors with his respectful treatment: The Mexican president acknowledged that every country had a “right” to protect its own border, and suggested that Mr. Trump wanted to move on from his antagonistic remarks of the past.

Graphic

A Look at Trump’s Immigration Plan, Then and Now

Here’s a look at how the Republican candidate’s positions on immigration have changed, or remained the same, throughout the campaign.

“The Mexican people felt aggrieved by those comments,” Mr. Peña Nieto said. “But I am certain that he has a genuine interest in building a relationship that would lead us to provide better conditions to our people”

Mr. Trump’s unexpected trip to Mexico was timed to steer attention from his significant shifts on immigration policy, flying to Mexico just hours before he was scheduled to deliver a major speech on immigration after more than a week of mixed signals about his immigration views, which he said were “softening” and then “hardening” in the space of two days last week.

On a more personal level, Mr. Trump also wanted to show undecided voters that he had the temperament and self-control of a statesman — qualities that many doubt he has — and also demonstrate that Americans did not need to worry every time he opened his mouth in a foreign country. He also hoped to show that he could acquit himself well on the world stage, something that is a clear strength of Mrs. Clinton, a former secretary of state, senator and first lady.

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign has described Mr. Trump’s trip as a hollow gesture, but it is unclear whether Mrs. Clinton herself will deliver a more pointed critique of her opponent during his travels.

Mr. Trump, who has little experience with foreign policy statecraft or news conferences with heads of state, made no obvious mistakes during his trip to Mexico, nor did he breach any protocol during his public appearance with Mr. Peña Nieto on a small stage at the presidential palace. As Mr. Peña Nieto made lengthy opening remarks in Spanish, Mr. Trump clasped his hands at times, and tapped them against his thighs as he nodded slightly at other points as he listened to woman beside him translate the remarks into English.

Mr. Peña Nieto came across as civil and stolid, defending the North American Free Trade Agreement — a frequent target of criticism by Mr. Trump — and noting that weak border security also allowed weapons and cash often to flow from the United States to Mexican gangs and drug cartels. But for the most part the president took a position of neutrality, neither chastising Mr. Trump nor indicating that he favored one American presidential candidate over another.

“We might not agree on everything, but your presence here, Mr. Trump, shows we coincide in one thing: the importance of our countries to one another,” Mr. Peña Nieto said.

Mr. Trump was somewhat more aggressive in his remarks, saying that Nafta “has been a far greater benefit to Mexico than to the U.S., and it must be improved upon” and that any country had a right “to build a physical barrier or wall on any of its borders to stop the illegal movement of people, drugs and weapons.”

“Cooperation toward achieving the shared objective — and it will be shared — of safety for all citizens is paramount, to both the United States and to Mexico,” Mr. Trump said.

Yet Mr. Trump, who is known for insisting that only he can fix America’s problems, also suggested that he wanted Mexico to be a partner on border security.

“I really believe that the president and I will solve those problems,” Mr. Trump said. “We will get them solved. Illegal immigration is a problem for Mexico as well as for us. Drugs are a tremendous problem from Mexico as well as us. I mean it’s not a one-way street.”

Mr. Trump’s gift for showmanship has helped him define the terms of the 2016 election, and his surprise visit to Mexico is precisely the kind of spectacle on which he has thrived. But the symbolism-laden trip comes at a moment of real political peril, as Mr. Trump seeks to tiptoe away from some of his most hotly debated proposals on immigration, which he outlined during the Republican primaries.

In the hours before his trip, Mr. Trump bickered on Twitter with Vicente Fox, a former president of Mexico, after Mr. Fox criticized him in scathing language on television.

“Former President Vicente Fox, who is railing against my visit to Mexico today, also invited me when he apologized for using the ‘f bomb,’” Mr. Trump wrote Wednesday morning, alluding to a profane remark that Mr. Fox made in February about Mr. Trump’s proposed border wall.

Mr. Fox, a voluble presence on Twitter in his own right, retorted that he had urged Mr. Trump to visit Mexico to apologize for disrespecting the country. “Stop lying!” Mr. Fox shot back. “Mexico is not yours to play with, show some respect.”

Azam Ahmed and Nick Corasaniti contributed reporting.

Source: The New York Time