On Monday's New Day, CNN political reporter Sara Murray tagged Donald Trump's recently revealed plan for dealing with illegal immigration as a "hardline immigration plan," asserting that the plan "only offers red meat that will appeal to the far right conservative wing of the party."
And, even though there is debate about whether the U.S. Constitution's provision for birthright citizenship actually mandates this right for the children of illegal immigrants, Murray dismissed the push for ending such automatic citizenship by claiming it is "enshrined in the Constitution."
During a report that was primarily about a recent Fox poll showing establishment candidates falling in the GOP presidential race, the CNN political reporter got to Trump's plan for dealing with illegal immigration. Murray:
Now, Trump is offering more red meat for conservatives: a hardline immigration plan. Saying on NBC's Meet the Press he even supports deporting children brought to the U.S. illegally -- a step further than some of his GOP rivals.
After a clip of the GOP presidential candidate being interviewed by NBC's Chuck Todd, Murray continued:
Trump's six-page proposal calls for an end to birthright citizenship, a provision enshrined in the Constitution that grants citizenship to those born in the U.S. It puts stricter limits on legal immigration and pushes penalties on Mexico if they refuse to fund a wall along the border.
A few minutes later, during a discussion segment, co-host Chris Cuomo raised the issue of birthright citizenship being in the Constitution:
So what do you think, Sara? You laid it out in the piece that, yes, you have the birthright inclusion within the Constitution, but just putting it out as an idea, what's the plus-minus on this?
Murray complained about Trump's plan not including some of the "more moderate" aspects the GOP candidate previously suggested as she began her response:
Well, Chris, if you look at this plan, I think what's really interesting is Donald Trump really only offers red meat that will appeal to the far right conservative wing of the party. We've heard him say some other things in the past that are more moderate, that he wants to streamline the legal immigration system, that even though he wants to deport the 11 million undocumented here, he wants to create a path to legal status to allow the, quote, "good ones," to come back in. None of that is in the immigration plan he put out.
Murray then adopted the liberal term "dreamers" to refer to the children of illegal immigrants as she continued:
So it's pretty clear this is a document that's designed to sort of inspire more support among conservatives. And I think that's what you saw in that interview as well. When you're talking about deporting the dreamers, there are not a lot of other Republicans in the field who feel the same way about that. When you talk to Marco Rubio and you talk to Jeb Bush, even they say we shouldn't punish these children because their parents brought them here illegally. Donald Trump clearly taking a very different tactic on that.
The CNN political reporter repeated her claim about birthright citizenship being "enshrined in our Constitution" as she concluded:
The -- whether this is feasible, I would venture to say: No, there is no way that they're going to overturn something that is enshrined in our Constitution because Donald Trump, even if he's President, wants to do it. That is a very heavy lift. So that just gives you an idea of, you know, let's just call it what it is: It's pandering to the conservative base.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Monday, August 17, New Day from about 6:03 a.m.:
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Now, Trump is offering more red meat for conservatives: a hardline immigration plan. Saying on NBC's Meet the Press he even supports deporting children brought to the U.S. illegally -- a step further than some of his GOP rivals.
CHUCK TODD, NBC: You're going to split up families. You're going to deport children.
DONALD TRUMP: Chuck, Chuck, no, no. We're gong to keep families together. We have to keep the families together.
TODD: But you're going to (INAUDIBLE) out-
TRUMP: But -- they have to go.
MURRAY: Trump's six-page proposal calls for an end to birthright citizenship, a provision enshrined in the Constitution that grants citizenship to those born in the U.S. It puts stricter limits on legal immigration and pushes penalties on Mexico if they refuse to fund a wall along the border.
(...)
6:07 a.m.
CHRIS CUOMO: So what do you think, Sara? You laid it out in the piece that, yes, you have the birthright inclusion within the Constitution, but just putting it out as an idea, what's the plus-minus on this?
MURRAY: Well, Chris, if you look at this plan, I think what's really interesting is Donald Trump really only offers red meat that will appeal to the far right conservative wing of the party. We've heard him say some other things in the past that are more moderate, that he wants to streamline the legal immigration system, that even though he wants to deport the 11 million undocumented here, he wants to create a path to legal status to allow the, quote, "good ones," to come back in. None of that is in the immigration plan he put out.
So it's pretty clear this is a document that's designed to sort of inspire more support among conservatives. And I think that's what you saw in that interview as well. When you're talking about deporting the dreamers, there are not a lot of other Republicans in the field who feel the same way about that. When you talk to Marco Rubio and you talk to Jeb Bush, even they say we shouldn't punish these children because their parents brought them here illegally. Donald Trump clearly taking a very different tactic on that.
The -- whether this is feasible, I would venture to say: No, there is no way that they're going to overturn something that is enshrined in our Constitution because Donald Trump, even if he's President, wants to do it. That is a very heavy lift. So that just gives you an idea of, you know, let's just call it what it is: It's pandering to the conservative base.
