Immigration proposal splits Republican field

Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa

Donald Trump is dividing his Republican presidential rivals anew with his call to rewrite the Constitution to crack down on millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, and to force Mexico to pay for a better border fence. Scott Walker embraced some of the plan Monday, but other contenders, such as Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina, dismissed elements as unworkable.

Trump’s immigration proposal, his first formal policy plan since announcing his candidacy in June, won praise Monday from the GOP’s conservative tea partyers, some of whom favor changing the Constitution to reverse the “birthright citizenship” guaranteed to anyone born in the United States, no matter the status of their parents. At the same time, surveys show a majority of Americans, including Republicans, support allowing many immigrants in the U.S. illegally to stay.

Trump leads his Republican rivals in national polls, and his proposal quickly reverberated within the party, which has struggled with the issue of immigration.

Party leaders are determined to expand the GOP’s appeal with Hispanics after the 2012 election in which Mitt Romney won just 27 percent of the Latino vote. But many Republicans have adopted a hardline approach on immigrants, appealing to the party’s core voters who play an oversized role in nominating primaries and caucuses.

Asked at the Iowa State Fair on Monday if he supports building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, as Trump has proposed, Wisconsin Gov. Walker gave a quick “yes,” but he declined to address whether he supports deporting children of parents in the country illegally. “Going forward, the best thing we can do is enforce the law,” he said.

Walker, who reversed his position in April on allowing a chance for legal status for those in the country illegally, also gave mixed answers on ending birthright citizenship.

Christie said during a CNN interview that a wall or fence along parts of the border, especially in more urban and difficult-to-control areas, was conceivable, but “not the entire border. Doesn’t make any sense.” Likewise, the New Jersey governor is opposed to requiring Mexico to pay for the construction, saying Trump’s suggestion “makes no sense.”

“And this is not negotiation of a real-estate deal, OK. This is international diplomacy, and it’s different,” Christie said, noting Trump’s line of business.

Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO, called Trump’s wall plan “completely unrealistic.”

Tea-party movement co-founder Mark Meckler said Trump’s “position on deportation generally reflects what likely voters think. Trump is dealing head-on with the difficult issues while more establishment candidates fret over focus groups and polls.”