Despite the flak he is getting for his choice of words, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is correct in saying that Mexican immigrants are committing a disproportionate amount of crime in the United States, says veteran political consultant and Newsmax contributor Dick Morris.
There currently are about 260,000 inmates in federal and state prisons who are not U.S. citizens, Morris said Wednesday on
Newsmax TV's "Newsmax Prime." "Some of them may be green card holders and some of them may be tourists, but I'm sure the vast majority of them are illegal immigrants, and they're not in prison for immigration."
About 15 percent of the prison population are noncitizens, a far less percentage of the population as a whole, he said.
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"The Democrats are sensing a wonderful opportunity to paint the Republicans as anti-Hispanic, and the Republicans are having a wonderful opportunity showing how pro-Hispanic they are by kicking the Trump piñata," Morris said.
Morris says Trump's words won't have a huge impact on the vote since immigration doesn't top the list of priorities for the three-quarters of Hispanics who were born in the United States. They are more concerned with education and jobs and the economy, he said.
Others will use his words to position themselves, but everyone else knows Trump is telling the truth, even if it is politically incorrect.
"Not because he's saying outrageous stuff, but because he's saying outrageous stuff that is true," Morris said.
Trump is unlikely to run third party if he fails to get the GOP nomination, Morris said.
More likely, Trump will either be destroyed politically or he will destroy the Republican Party, Morris said.
"And what's likely to happen is that if Trump ends up being hit badly by the establishment, he'll be too damaged to run as a third candidate," he said. "So whether it's by choice or necessity, I don't think he will."
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