Not everything that comes out of Donald Trump's mouth when he's thinking out loud is a "policy proposal," and he's learning that he has to be careful with what he says, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Monday that he expects Trump's immigration speech on Wednesday will focus on basics.
"I think he is going to stick to the focus of border security, not having amnesty and making sure that people understand that we will have a country that enforces its border," Huckabee, who supports Trump after dropping his own presidential bid, told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program.
Meanwhile, as the general election nears, the time has come when candidates are "not allowed the luxury to thinking out loud," and when Trump does that, the media jumps on it, said Huckabee.
He further thinks that Trump, with his comments on the death of NBA star Dwyane Wade's cousin, and his talk of "working with" some undocumented immigrants about remaining in the United States shows he's trying to be "very compassionate."
"He is trying to show that he is sensitive to the realities of urban life and I think that's a good thing," said Huckabee. "That is what he needs to be doing. Most people realize it is not realistic nor practical to round up 11 million people nor is it financially possible."
However, there is an "intense desire" to take the criminal element out and to create a system where there is not amnesty, the former governor commented.
"There will have to be back taxes, and some type of a penalty for coming here illegally," said Huckabee. "But then we recognize the reason a lot of people have come here illegally, is because our federal government's policies were a dismal failure. It was so difficult to come legally and desperate people came, often at great risk to themselves. Those are kinds of things Donald Trump can talk to, speak to, and still be able to show he is dead serious about building a border and making it so that people just don't come across without any kind of scrutiny."