Real estate tycoon Donald Trump is certainly no stranger to controversy.
And in the ongoing debate regarding immigration reform, the outspoken Republican billionaire told his fellow GOP members that immigration reform would be a "suicide mission" for the party.
As Reuters reported, Trump, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, told those at the meeting that by allowing millions of undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship-and, as part of that, the right to vote-the Republicans would be giving millions of ballots away for the Democrats in future elections.
"Because you could say that to a certain extent, the odds aren't looking so great right now for Republicans. That you're on a suicide mission. You're just not going to get those votes," he said.
Trump, who made headlines in the last presidential election by offering $5 million to President Obama in exchange for proof of his U.S. citizenship, urged Republicans to be "very, very careful" on immigration reform.
In fact, Reuters reported, Trump seemed to hint that the U.S. should consider allowing more Europeans into the country as a way to offset the influence of the Latino electorate, which played a pivotal role in the last presidential election.
"Now I say to myself, 'Why aren't we letting people in from Europe?' I have many friends, many, many friends -- and nobody wants to talk this, nobody wants to say it -- many friends form Europe," he said.
Yet, Trump's comments come as something of an about-face regarding Latinos and immigration. In November, shortly after GOP candidate Mitt Romney lost the election, Trump labeled Romney's so-called "self-deportation" policy proposal as "maniacal."
"He had a crazy policy of self-deportation, which was maniacal," Trump told Newsmax. "It sounded as bad as it was, and he lost all of the Latino vote ... He lost the Asian vote. He lost everybody who is inspired to come into this country."
Trump added that while the Democrats didn't have a policy for dealing with undocumented immigrants, they benefited by not coming off as "mean-spirited" on the issue compared to Romney and Republicans.
On Friday, the star of Celebrity Apprentice also criticized, without naming, Karl Rove for not getting his money's worth for the hundreds of millions of dollars invested in Romney's 2012 presidential run.
Trump also took exception to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for urging the GOP to "stop being the stupid party" in post-election comments the governor made.
"What a horrible statement," Trump said.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
