GOP Debate 2015 News: Immigration to Be Likely Focus of Thursday Night's Republican Debate
Immigration will likely be among the key issues tackled at tonight's Fox News presidential debate between 10 Republican presidential hopefuls, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
The fate of the 11 million or so undocumented immigrants who currently reside in the United States has been brought to the forefront of the 2016 White House race ever since real-estate mogul Donald Trump alleged Mexico brings drug dealers, criminals and rapists to the U.S. -- comments that caused widespread backlash from the Latino community.
Trump, whom the Sun-Sentinel defined as the "frontrunner" in the competition for the GOP's presidential nomination, is among a handful of candidates expected to push a hard-line on immigration to appeal to conservative voters "who cannot abide a path to legal status or anything that smacks of 'amnesty' for those who break immigration law."
Establishment Republicans, including former Jeb. Bush, however, are expected to take a more moderate approach. The former Florida governor this week said, if he were to move into the White House, he would create a "rigorous path" for those living in the country illegally to eventually "earn legal status," though he also stressed his commitment to border security and worker verification.
The Fox News debate will be held at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland and will be moderated by the news channel's Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. The Fox team spent weeks discussing how to handle the event -- especially given the presence of television personality and first-time debater Trump.
"I don't think anybody knows -- maybe he doesn't know -- what you're going to get from Donald Trump," Wallace said. "What makes it such compelling television is that sense of, at the very least, uncertainty, and at the very most, danger."
The debate, which will air at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, is set to include the top 10 GOP candidates, determined by the average of recent national polls, Fox News reported. They are Trump, Bush, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
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