Hispanic conservatives are saying they support Donald Trump as the party's presidential nominee, but he'll have to change his tone on immigration.
"If in the process of unification, he were to seek my support and show he's willing to change his tone and be open to some form of legislation, I would be willing to reconsider my position," Alfonso Aguilar who leads the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, told
The Hill.
Aguilar's comments were far different than they were in October, when he declared Trump was "done with the Latino community, he's done with the Latino conservatives."
Aguilar, a former White House official under President George W. Bush, further told Fox then that if Trump became the nominee, Latinos would not work to support him, and that would cost him the White House.
But on Friday night, the camps for Trump and likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton
presented videos for the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, and Trump's film may have changed some minds.
However, Trump has remained unpopular among Republican Latino leaders since the opening days of his campaign last year, when he said rapists and criminals were coming across the border from Mexico. Further, his call for a wall on the southern border, which he insists Mexico would pay for, has drawn further outcry, as has his call for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.
But now there are signs that Trump wants to change his image with Hispanics, including a
meeting earlier this month with the Rev. Mario Bramnick, a member of the Christian conference's board.
After the meeting, Bramnick told Time magazine that Trump showed "tremendous understanding and concern for undocumented immigrants."
Trump also has spoken with former Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, who has served as a Republican National Committee chairman in the past. The former lawmaker told The Hill he remains undecided, but in February, he was much more decided, telling The Wall Street Journal that "if there is any, any, any other choice, a living, breathing person with a pulse, I would be there."
Trump needs to win a strong Hispanic vote to take the White House. The GOP's 2012 nominee Mitt Romney lost his quest for the presidency after winning just 27 percent of the Hispanic vote.
Meanwhile, the Rev. Sam Rodriguez, who heads the NHCLC, and Daniel Garza, who heads the conservative LIBRE Institute, have said they are open to reconciliation.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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