Donald Trump Immigration Policies: Labour Party’s Jeremy Corbyn Says Trump Should ‘Grow Up’

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is not a fan of Donald Trump and his views on immigration. In fact, he believes that these views are immature and shortsighted.

In an appearance on the Andrew Marr Show, the British politician pulled no punches as he commented on Trump’s bold plans to “build a wall” at the U.S.-Mexican border as well as the “absurd and abusive” language he has used against Muslims. According to The Independent, Corbyn’s unhappiness with Donald Trump’s opinions on immigrants and immigration is notable because his wife, Laura Alvarez, is Mexican, and was “outraged” at Trump’s “build a wall” comments.

“Donald Trump should grow up and recognize the American economy actually depends on migrant labor. The treatment of Mexico by the United States, just as much as his absurd and abusive language towards Muslims is something that has to be challenged.”

"Neither billionaire Donald Trump nor the billionaire-backed Tories have any interest in giving people back control"https://t.co/eXizH0bdd3

— For The Many (@ForTheMany2020) November 12, 2016

Corbyn also expressed his views on what may have caused Trump to pull off a surprise win over Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s U.S. presidential elections, particularly in Ohio and other Rust Belt states.

“Trump decided to use the populist agenda. He blamed Muslims Mexicans, he blamed Muslims, he blamed women, he blamed anyone he could think of, except the very corporate America that in many ways he actually represents.”

Donald Trump’s immigration policies won’t be taking effect until he takes his seat as president in January 2017, but those potential policies have been getting a lot of attention. The president-elect had outlined a 10-point plan during his campaign, one that includes his notorious “build a wall” promise. According to a September report from PBS, Trump’s 10-point plan also includes forming a deportation task force that would remove any undocumented immigrants with criminal records as well as anyone who may have stayed in America beyond the expiry date of their Visas. Further, he hopes to cancel President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative, which helps younger immigrants get temporary legal status.

Regarding legal immigration, the 10-point plan includes an entry where the Trump administration hopes to reduce legal immigration to “historic norms” by setting new immigration caps.

For the Labour Party’s Corbyn, this all adds up to an environment that encourages intolerance, but he remains hopeful that Trump would eventually recognize the benefits of immigration.

“I’m looking forward to the conversation between my wife and Donald Trump. She is a proud Mexican and she is proud to live here (in the U.K.) as well. All of us want to live in a world where you can tolerate and deal with each other.”

In the days since Donald Trump won the 2016 elections, Jeremy Corbyn has been a staunch critic of the real estate mogul and reality TV star turned president-elect. A recent statement made at the Labour Party’s Southeast Regional Conference had Corbyn calling Trump’s victory as “a wakeup call to the world,” as he blamed both the Trump campaign and British Conservatives for looking for scapegoats rather than coming up with solutions to society’s issues.

Speaking at the conference, Corbyn said that he doesn’t have an idea of how Trump plans to “make America great again,” as his campaign’s slogan went, and that U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and her Conservative Party “offer slogans, but no solutions.”

“Instead of offering real solutions or the resources to make them work, (Trump) offered only someone to blame – everyone, that is, apart from those who are actually responsible for a broken economy and a failed political system,” Corbyn added.

At this point, it’s too early to say whether Donald Trump’s immigration reforms will graduate from the planning stage and become actual policies. But as seen with Corbyn’s recent statements, they continue to ruffle a lot of feathers in the run-up to the start of his administration, and may continue to do so in the weeks to come.

[Featured Image by Jack Taylor/Getty Images]