WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 (UPI) — Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence didn’t give details on how Donald Trump would deal with millions of undocumented Americans living peacefully in the United States except they would be treated “humanely.”
In a taped interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Indiana governor would not say if the presidential nominee would deport the more than 11 million people currently in the country illegally.
“There are people in different circumstances in that category,” said Pence.
Pence reiterated the stand Trump took in a speech last Wednesday in Phoenix.
“We’re going to enforce the laws of this country. We’re going to make sure that we essentially end illegal immigration once and for all,” Pence said.
“And when all of that happens, then, as a nation, he said we can give consideration to how we resolve issues around those that remain. We’ll do it humanely. We’ll do it with the compassion of the American people.”
Pence also denied any speculation that Trump was softening on his stance when he first announced he was running for president last year and claimed the GOP’s nomination.
“With all due respect to the media’s focus on the 11 million [undocumented immigrants who have not committed crimes in the U.S.] or whatever that number is, he was focused on the more than 300 million people who are citizens of this country and are here legally in this country, and driving policies in immigration that will work for them, work for the future of our nation,” Pence told Todd in an interview taped Saturday on the campus of Ohio State University.
He also didn’t explain how Mexico would pay for a wall on the border, a pledge Trump renewed in Phoenix.
“The United States of America is the most powerful economy on the face of the Earth. Access to our economy is enormously valuable to Mexico and every other country in the world,” Pence said.
“The one thing Donald Trump knows is how to do a deal,” he added.
Pence said Trump would reverse the “unconstitutional” order that protected the so-called “dreamers,” undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children by their parents who have grown up as Americans and attended public schools.
In another matter, Trump pledged that he and Trump would soon release their tax returns.
“Donald Trump and I are both going to release our tax returns,” Pence said in a separate portion of the interview taped at an Ohio State tailgate event. “I’ll release mine in the next week.”
He said, “Donald Trump will be releasing his tax returns at the completion of an audit.”
He said “we’ll see” whether it is before November’s election.
