(AP) — Donald Trump's aggressive rhetoric on illegal immigration has obscured a potentially historic policy shift — the Republican presidential nominee is the first major party candidate in modern memory to propose limiting legal immigration.
In his speech on immigration Wednesday night, Trump capped a list of steps to combat illegal immigration, with a final pledge to completely revamp the country's legal immigration system in order to lessen the number of people allowed into the United States.
The politicians who are major speakers on this have always focused on rule of law.
Since the 1990s, politicians who have taken a tough stance on immigration have usually come out against amnesty for anyone living in the country illegally, but spoke favorably of legal immigration.
"For Trump, it's 'I'm all against immigration, legal or otherwise, full stop' -- which is a massive departure for the Republican party," said Ali Noorani of the National Immigration Forum Action Fund.
Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies argued that discussing appropriate levels of overall immigration, rather than focusing on people breaking the law to stay in the country, can defuse racial tension around the issue.
Trump said he'd oppose allowing in immigrants from countries with a history of terrorism and, on his campaign website, he calls for companies to hire unemployed Americans before importing foreign workers on visas.
