What Trump has taught us about immigration

Is he or isn't he? That's been the question of the week about whether Donald Trump is "softening" his hardline stance on illegal immigration, adopted ahead of the Republican primaries.

What exactly is going on with Trump and immigration remains the subject of uncertainty and debate. But the Republican presidential nominee's machinations have revealed some areas of broad agreement on a polarizing hot-button topic.

Criminal aliens

Nearly everyone from Hillary Clinton to Ann Coulter agrees that the top immigration enforcement priority should be people who aren't authorized to be in this country who have committed serious crimes. When Trump signaled that he too would focus on removing criminal aliens first — which has actually always been the position outlined in his formal, Jeff Sessions-inspired immigration plan, if not his campaign rhetoric — some said he was taking the Obama administration's position.

That's true insofar as it is every mainstream politician's position. The difference between President Obama and immigration hawk critics (the jury is still out on whether that still includes Trump) is that he has wound down the removal of other illegal immigrants. Devoting the most resources to criminal aliens does not necessarily require conceding that other illegal immigrants won't be removed.

The fact is, it is possible to assert that all illegal immigrants in the country are eligible for deportation without actually going around deporting them all.