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Trump visits Mexican president and comes back tougher than ever: Build the wall!

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By Noel Young, Correspondent

September 1, 2016 | 4 min read

Hours after meeting with Mexico's president, would-be US president Donald Trump laid out a hardline plan aimed at curbing illegal immigration in a tougher-ever-speech at Phoenix.

Trump: No bending

Trump: No bending

Bloomberg said Trump had "returned to form". describing his offering as a "nativist immigration plan , definitively ruling out legal status for undocumented immigrants as well as proposing to building a wall on the southern border of the United States and forcing Mexico to cover the cost.

"We will build a great wall," Trump said as the crowd cheered. "And Mexico will pay for the wall. One hundred percent. They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for it."

The speech came just hours after Trump traveled to Mexico at the invitation of president, Enrique Pena Nieto. The two men met privately and discussed a range of topics that included illegal immigration and the possibility of amending the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement.

But, said Bloomberg, they came away with "markedly different interpretations on the question of Mexico's willingness to pay for a wall."

Trump didn't say Mexico would pay for the wall during his visit, but back in Phoenix he assured the crowd that Mexico would be a willing partner in both paying for it and helping to monitor the border.

"Mexico will work with us, I really believe it," Trump said.

The Republican presidential candidate stuck with his pledge to deport criminal aliens, as well as those who attempted to cross the border illegally.

He did not specify how long such an effort would take or how much it would cost, said Bloomberg.

"Under my administration, anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are returned," Trump said, adding that, if he is elected president, the U.S. would "end catch and release," and beef up the number of police and immigration officers dedicated to handling undocumented workers.

He also said: "There will be no amnesty. Our message to the world will be this: You cannot obtain legal status or become a citizen of the United States by illegally entering our country."

Trump also promised to "immediately terminate" President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration, including a 2012 program that currently shields some 750,000 young people from deportation.

Bloomberg said that little of what he proposed was new. It was close to the immigration blueprint that Trump published on his website in August 2015.

Earlier this week It he had seemed to shift his positions on using a "deportation force" to remove approximately 11 million undocumented workers from the country.

However at Phoenix, Trump pledged to deport "all illegal immigrants who are arrested for any crime whatsoever, and they will be placed into immediate removal proceedings."

The fiery speech dashed the hopes of Republicans who had wanted Trump to adopt "gentler and more measured rhetoric,"said Bloomberg.

At various points in the speech, the crowd broke into chants of "build the wall!"

"There is only one core issue in the immigration debate, and that is the well being of the American people," Trump said. "Nothing even comes in a close second."

Trump also said he would crack down on 23 countries that he said currently don't take back citizens who the U.S. deports.

If the U.S. elected him president and followed his prescription, Trump argued, "crime will go down, border crossings will plummet, gangs will disappear, and welfare use will decrease."

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