CLEVELAND ― Donald Trump’s vow to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants isn’t as popular as you might think ― even among Republicans in town for the convention here this week.
“This is America,” said 74-year-old Larry Bauduin of Indiana, who was sporting an American flag and bald eagle T-shirt along with a “Trump for President” button. “You just can’t do that.”
Baudin, who drove to Cleveland to check out the atmosphere of the convention, said he thinks Republicans need to create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants rather than deporting them.
His 26-year-old daughter, Tanya, who lives in Cleveland, agreed: “Don’t kick them out. They have families here,” she said.
According to a recent Gallup poll released Wednesday, nearly 8 in 10 Republicans say undocumented people already living in the U.S. should have a way to obtain citizenship status ― a plan presumptive Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton supports. However, the same Gallup poll found that Republicans, by a 2 to 3 margin, also support building a wall along the Mexico border.
South Carolina delegate Ida Martin said she supports plans to build a “huge wall,” increase border control and create a better system for people who want to enter the country legally. But she doesn’t think all undocumented immigrants should be deported. “I’m sure some aren’t deportable,” she said, “but I’m sure some are. And if they are here committing crimes and breaking laws, I don’t have a problem shipping them somewhere.”
Some convention attendees said they disagree with Trump on mass deportation, but still support him because they don’t think he actually intends to do it.
“It’s not going to happen,” said Sandy Wood of Bay Village, Ohio. Her husband, Jim, agreed. “It’s like how every other politician says things that aren’t going to happen.” They both believe Trump will change his position on the issue if he wins.
Baudin echoed their dismissal of the plan’s viability. “I’m OK with his position because his position is going to change,” he said. “once he realizes how many people there is. You just can’t do that.”
Other Trump voters who spoke with The Huffington Post seemed oblivious to the candidate’s stance on immigration.
One convention attendee said she supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. But when asked a follow-up question about Trump’s deportation plan, she responded, “Did Trump call for that? … What? Deporting 11 million people?”
The attendee then asked that her name not be included in this article, as her son works for a super PAC supporting Trump and she worried her response didn’t sound “conservative enough.”
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
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