Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Republican presidential candidate and Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) said the Republican Party “is not for deporting 11.5 million people.”
When asked about the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to start deporting some of the families that surged across the U.S.-Mexican border in the last few years, Kasich said, “Well, you know, I don’t know about that, but what we know is, if people violated the law here in this country, everybody that I know says they ought to be deported. In fact, it was my old colleague Bill O’Reilly who started this movement a long time ago. Look, in the very first debate, I said that Trump has touched on something, people are afraid they’re going to lose their job. If they’re 51 years old, they can’t find a job. Their kids have too much debt. They think the system is a ripoff. They think the lobbyists control everything. So, I absolutely can understand why people are so worked up, but there’s an interesting thing that Trump said. He said none of the politicians will get this done. Well, let me tell you about our state—I’m the seventh largest state in the country, 11.5 million people. If you want a job you’re likely to get one. If you’re worried about your wages, ours are going up. If you have a son or a daughter that’s autistic you can get insurance. What we have done in Ohio is offer specific solutions to problems and we have done it and that’s why the people of the state are in such a positive mood. What Trump does is, he complains about everything—and look—these attacks on women and on Hillary Clinton not getting back to the stage on time, the attacks on Hispanics and Muslims. Look, we haven’t started the vote yet. It’s a top of the story, Trump rising and everything, wait until we start voting and then we’re going to know where people are.”
He continued, “Look, I have done 45 town hall meetings in New Hampshire. I have done more town hall meetings than anybody running for president. I’m surging in the poll. I’m running third in the poll, one point behind second place, really not far behind Trump. When the voting starts we’re going to find out. I do town halls. people ask me my plan, I said finish the border, have a guest worker program for the 11.5 million who are here, if they haven’t violated another law when they’ve been here, they get a path to legalization. I think it’s ridiculous we’re going to into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes, split up families and ship them back to Mexico. It’s not going to happen.”
He added, “Everybody’s all hyped up about these polls. we’re going to know in another 30, 40 days. And remember how many people won Iowa, only to go on to New Hampshire to get blown out. We never heard from them again. I’m very optimistic about New Hampshire myself. I don’t think that is where the party is. The party is not for deporting 11.5 million people. I’m sorry, I don’t believe it.”
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