Trump’s deportation priorities aren’t new, just louder

Yesterday afternoon a presidential-sounding Donald Trump shared a stage with the President of Mexico and never mentioned deportation.

But a few hours later, in Arizona, the old familiar Trump was back.

“And you can call it deported. You can call it whatever the hell you want. They’re gone,” he announced.

What would be on Trump’s American religion test?

As belligerent as he sounded in Arizona, he has clearly pulled back from the idea of trying to deport everyone who is here illegally, because he used a very important word.

“As with any law enforcement activity, we will set priorities,” he said.

Priorities. That means you choose who to deport first.

And so he had a list at the top: Criminals, then gang members, then security threats, then people who overstay their visas. He made no mention of law-abiding people who are working or going to school and paying taxes, implying they must be a pretty low priority.

Which means even though the words were shouted, nothing changes. If you Google “deportation priorities” you will find the list of current Homeland Security deportation priorities, which by some coincidence are exactly the same as the ones Donald Trump shouted from the podium last night.

So the Trump deportation policy is quite simple. It’s to take the Obama policy and make it louder!

And I don’t fault that. It might just work.

Oh, and we can’t forget this:

Mexico will pay for the wall!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2016

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