Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos grilled Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on his plan to deport the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.
Exchange as follows:
STEPHANOPOULOS: From the American action conservative group they say the federal government would have to spend roughly $400 billion to $600 billion to address the 11.2 million undocumented immigrants. Each immigrant would have to be apprehended, detained, legally processed and transported to his or her home country, in turn this would shrink the labor force by 11 million and reduce the real GDP by 1.6 trillion dollars. Are you willing to pay that price and where are you going to get the money?
TRUMP: First of all they’re wrong and Jeb Bush is a low energy person and wouldn’t be able to do it. He says they come as an act of love. People coming and many of them you look at what’s happening with the crime, many of them are really causing tremendous problems and they would be out really fast. Immediately.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Trump. they’re saying $406 billion and would require big government apparatus to take everybody down. If you don’t think those numbers are right how much will it cost and where will you get the money.”
TRUMP: It’s costing us $130 billion a year and that’s peanuts compared to what the real cost is, George. The way we have it now. You have so many illegals. We don’t even know how many. I hear 11 million. I hear 30 million. The government has no idea. We have lost control of our country. We’ve lost control of our borders. The government has no idea how many illegals are here. I’ve been hearing 11 billion for five years then I heard 30. nobody has any idea.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: So if there’s no idea how are you going to round them all up, where are you going to get the money and the forces? Exactly how are you going to do it? What are the specifics?
TRUMP: George, it’s called management. The first thing we have to do is secure the border but it’s called management. And we’ll get people back in, the really good ones and expedite it so they get back in. So they can at least come in legally.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You keep declaring how you’re going to do it but you don’t say how.
TRUMP: Excuse me, George. I’m telling you, it’s called management. You can do this and why can expedite the good ones to come back in and everybody wants that. But they have to come in legally. We have a country, we have to have — we’re a country of laws. We’re a country of borders. How can you have a country without a border. How can you have a country without laws? We have to do it and by the way what you said in your piece initially is the gang members. You look at the gang members in Baltimore, Chicago, in Ferguson, these people, a lot of them are illegals. These are rough dudes and we’re going to get them
STEPHANOPOULOS: I understand you think it’s a huge problem but I don’t hear specifics.
TRUMP: My specifics are very simple. I’m going to get great people that know what they’re doing. not a bunch of political hacks that have no idea what they’re doing appointed by President Obama that doesn’t have a clue. I mean the man doesn’t have a clue. People are walking across the border right now right in front of these great people we have. We have wonderful border patrol people. they can do their job but they’re not allowed to do the job. People are walking right into our country totally — nobody even knows where they come from and walk past guards and are told not to do anything.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you expect neighbors to start turning in neighbors?
TRUMP: I don’t know what’s going to happen. I can tell you this, we have to have a country where a country of laws and we have to do it that way. George. there’s nothing we can do about it if we’re going to stand as a country. There’s no choice. We have no choice. We have to do it properly. Now, the candidates that are running against me like Jeb Bush, he has no clue. He’s never going to be able to do anything. Just look at what’s happened with him over the years and what’s happened with the last thing we need is another Bush. But Scott Walker changed his mind now because he keeps going back to his pollster and his pollster says Trump has a good idea, Trump has a bad idea. Wait a minute. These people don’t know what they’re doing. They’re politicians. They don’t know management. I get the best people and we will do it properly and humanely and get the good ones back in.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I still haven’t heard the specifics.
TRUMP: It’s called good management. It’s called great people.
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