Trump to visit Mexico before immigration speech in Phoenix

Date

9/2/2016 2:31:18 AM

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Washington-

White House hopeful Donald Trump may travel to Mexico Wednesday to meet with the country's president just hours ahead of his highly anticipated speech on immigration, US media reported.

The plans have not been finalized, and Trump's campaign has made no public announcement, but the Republican candidate is considering traveling to Mexico to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the discussions.

Pena Nieto's office released a statement saying he had invited Trump as well as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to meet with him in Mexico, but "there is no confirmation of meetings at this point," CNN reported.

A sudden international trip by a US presidential candidate would be a logistical and security nightmare on such short notice.

But Trump could be sensing an opportunity in the visit, as he mulls whether to soften his hard-line position on immigration, the key issue of his campaign, and in particular Trump's early call to deport some 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows in the United States.

Any Trump-Pena Nieto meeting could be an awkward affair. In rally after campaign rally, Trump has pledged to "build a wall" on the US southern border and force Mexico to pay for it.

When he launched his presidential campaign last year, he used some of the most incendiary language of his candidacy in describing some Mexicans as drug dealers, "rapists" and other criminals.

Trump is scheduled to deliver a crucial speech Wednesday evening in Phoenix, Arizona seen as an opportunity to clarify his positions on immigration.

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