Former Sen. Rick Santorum says Donald Trump's recent shift from calling for mass deportations of illegal immigrants to a less clear position is a position that the billionaire real-estate developer once criticized his Republican primary opponents for taking.
"It's a little bit nuanced from where he was, for sure. The fact is that he is not saying everybody has to go. He is saying he's going to set priorities and focus on criminal aliens as opposed to a broader path," the Pennsylvania Republican told "The John Gibson Show," a syndicated radio program which was transcribed by BuzzFeed.
Santorum said the Republican presidential nominee had left open the question of what will be done with immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally but have not committed any crimes.
"He did criticize people in the primary on that, but he's made a little bit of a shift in his policies. I don't necessarily agree with it, but that's the decision he's made," said Santorum, a former GOP presidential candidate who is now CEO of EchoLight Studios.
"Look, I think people who are in this country illegally should, unless you're in a job that is simply not being done — and those are in the agricultural area. In those cases, I would provide for a work permit. After that people should return home and come back in an orderly fashion."
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