A closer look at Trump’s comments on immigration

A Los Angeles Times article about Donald Trump’s statements about the actions he would take if re-elected asked UCLA Luskin’s Chris Zepeda-Millán to weigh in on the former president’s comments on immigration. Trump has said he will “seal the border” with a physical wall, “conduct the largest deportation operation in American history,” order the military to attack foreign drug cartels and abolish birthright citizenship. While there is debate about whether to take the candidate at his word or dismiss his comments as populist rhetoric, Trump’s recent remarks are his way of “getting the most racist white Americans to vote,” according to Zepeda-Millán, an associate professor of public policy and co-author of “Walls, Cages, and Family Separation: Race and Immigration Policy in the Trump Era.” Zepeda-Millán’s research found that most Americans did not support Trump’s immigration policies during his first term, and that those who did held the “most racist views,” including a general discomfort with the growing Latino population.