Business mogul Donald Trump has repeatedly bemoaned the supposed influx of undocumented immigrants migrating across the border, calling them “rapists” and “criminals” and last week, advocating for an end to birthright citizenship. But on Sunday, when pressed by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on how he would address the problem, the Republican presidential hopeful struggled to give a definitive answer and instead claimed he would just hire “great people” who know how.
The full transcript of the exchange, in all of its glory (emphasis ours):
STEPHANOPOULOS: Where are you going to get the money, where are you going to get the forces? Exactly how are you going to do it? What are the specifics here?
TRUMP: George, it's called management. And the first thing we have to do is secure the border. But it's called management. And we'll get people back in, the really good ones, we're going to expedite it so they get back in, so they can at least come in legally.
But we have to do it...
STEPHANOPOULOS: You keep declaring how you're going to do it...
TRUMP: It's management.
STEPHANOPOULOS: -- but you don't say...
TRUMP: We don't...
STEPHANOPOULOS: -- how.
TRUMP: Excuse me, George?
STEPHANOPOULOS: You declare how you're going to to it, but you don't say how.
TRUMP: George, I'm telling you, it's called management. You can do this and we can expedite the good ones to come back in. And everybody wants that. But they have to come in legally.
We have a country, we have to have -- we're a country of laws. We're a country of borders. How can you have a country without a border? How can you have a country without laws?
We have to do it. And by the way, what you said in your piece initially is the gang members. You look at the gang members in Baltimore, Chicago, in Ferguson, these people, a lot of them, are illegals. These are rough dudes. And we're going to get them to hell out fast.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I -- I understand that you think it's a huge problem, but I still don't hear specifics on how you're going to do this.
TRUMP: Well, you'll see...
STEPHANOPOULOS: -- for example...
TRUMP: -- my specifics, George. But my specifics are very -- I'm going to get great people that know what they're doing, not a bunch of political hacks that have no idea what they're doing, appointed by President Obama, that doesn't have a clue. I mean that man doesn't have a clue.
Trump doubled down on an earlier false claim that “gang members in Baltimore, Chicago, in Ferguson” are undocumented.
In discussing his supposed immigration plan, Trump also attacked his GOP opponents for having “no clue.”
“These people don't know what they're doing, George. They're politicians,” he said.
When pushing Trump to name specific measures or policies proved fruitless, Stephanopoulos decided to move on.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I still haven't heard the specifics on how you're going to do that, but I'm going to move on...
TRUMP: Oh, you'll hear it, George. Don't worry about it.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I'm going to move on right now.
TRUMP: You'll hear it.
TRUMP: It's called good management and it's called great people.
Watch the full exchange above.
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