What Does Obama Think Of Trump's Immigration Plan?

During the fourth GOP debate, Republican front-runner Donald Trump laid out a bit more of his immigration plan, which includes building a 2,000-mile wall at the U.S.-Mexican border that he insists our neighbors to the south would pay for. The Donald also mentioned enacting mass deportation, referencing policy enacted under President Dwight Eisenhower's offensively named "Operation Wetback." Understandably, many politicians laughed at the notion that any of Trump's plan could come to fruition, POTUS being one of them. So, what does Obama think of Trump's immigration plan?

The commander-in-chief doesn't have a lot of kind words for Trump's costly proposal mentioned at the Milwaukee Center on Tuesday. Mere days after the debate, Obama decried the plan in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on Thursday. Obama noted its prohibitive cost as well as the negative press that would undoubtedly follow.

First of all, I have no idea where Mr. Trump thinks the money’s gonna come from. It would cost us hundreds of billions of dollars to execute that. Imagine the images on the screen flashed around the world as we were dragging parents away from their children and putting them in what, detention centers, and then systematically sending them out. Nobody thinks that that is realistic. But more importantly, that's not who we are as Americans.

Tuesday night marked the first time that Trump mentioned Eisenhower as well as how he intended to deport millions of undocumented immigrants out of the country. Surprisingly, there is no mention of mass deportation on Trump's campaign website outlining his comprehensive immigration policy. Nevertheless, Trump had this to say about immigration during the debate:

Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn’t like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower, you don’t get nicer. You don’t get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice.

Trump's statements during the fourth GOP debate have been taken as a credible plan of action, and it appears that Republican voters are firmly siding in favor of his policies. According to data from a recent The Economist/YouGov poll, it's Trump who's leading the right when it comes to immigration policy. Forty-nine percent of Republican voters polled say they'd go with Trump above all other candidates when it comes to such a pressing issue. Which is downright scary now that we have a better idea on how Trump plans to execute his immigration policy.