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GOP nominee Donald Trump pledges border wall amid speculation on softening immigration stance

Xinhua, August 31, 2016 Adjust font size:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated his stance on building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border amid speculation that he may soften his hard-line position on immigration in the upcoming speech on the issue.

"From day one I said that I was going to build a great wall on the SOUTHERN BORDER, and much more. Stop illegal immigration," the New York billionaire developer tweeted.

The remark came one day before Trump was to deliver what his campaign had billed as a major immigration speech, the latest of a series of steps designed to put an end to Trump's trailing behind his Democratic counterpart Hillary Clinton in polls.

After a bruised and chaotic primary season, where his hard-line immigration stance played a pivotal role in routing all other Republican contenders, Trump had recently been signaling that he may be open to a "softening" of his extreme immigration positions, including his previous pledge to deport an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the country.

"There certainly can be a softening because we're not looking to hurt people," Trump reportedly said on Aug. 23 during a town hall with Fox News in Austin, Texas. "We want people- we have some great people in this country."

The town hall event was closed to the press.

According to BuzzFeed, an Internet media outlet, during his meeting with Hispanic leaders early this month, Trump also indicated an openness to legalization for undocumented immigrants, a claim later denied by the Trump campaign. Endit