At an immigration-focused town hall in Texas on Tuesday, which was later broadcast on Fox News, Trump repeatedly polled his audience on what he should do, allowing his internal conflicts to play out publicly.
“Can we go through a process? Or do you think they have to get out?” he asked the audience. “Tell me. I mean, I don’t know, you tell me.”
Trump provided the crowd a sympathetic portrait of a theoretical illegal immigrant who has been in the country more than a decade, building a life with children and a stable job. He repeatedly asked if that sort of person should be allowed to stay or be kicked out of the country, getting results that were often difficult to measure. At one point, Trump asked who in the crowd wanted all illegal immigrants thrown out, even the law-abiding ones, and a man stood up and bellowed: “I do!”
Fox News’s Sean Hannity then asked Trump: “You heard from the audience. What does your gut tell you you want to do?”
“Well, look, this is like a poll, this is like a poll,” Trump said. “And I love the guy that stood up and said — where is that guy? I love this guy. That’s my guy. I mean, I get it. I get it. And I understand what you’re saying. But this is sort of like a poll. And this is what I’m getting all over the country.”
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This week the campaign twice started to plan an event where Trump could give an immigration speech — an opportunity for him to settle on a position and document it — only to cancel without a clear explanation.
