Trump to stop in Mexico before immigration speech

Donald Trump will make a brief visit to Mexico today ahead of a highly anticipated immigration speech this evening. The speech in Arizona is expected to clear up confusion over whether he will soften his stance on the issue.

The wall he has promised to build at the U.S. southern border is still in the works, but the details have gotten muddier in the past few months. When Trump first started talking about building that wall, he said it would stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. But since then, he’s said portions might need to be a “virtual wall.”

Onlookers also want Trump to clarify what he meant when he talked several weeks ago about a “softening” of his stance on deportation for those here illegally and perhaps even a path to legalization. Both the wall and his deportation plans likely will come up when he meets with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, who has invited both presidential candidates to visit his country.

Peña Nieto in the past compared Trump to Adolf Hitler and said “there is no scenario” in which Mexico would pay to build a border wall, as Trump suggested. His invitation to Trump took Mexicans by surprise and drew harsh criticism from many political analysts in the country. Protests of the visit are expected in Mexico City.

Peña Nieto acknowledged he had invited both candidates, and said he did it because “I believe in dialogue to promote Mexico’s interests and above all to protect Mexicans everywhere.”

Listen to “White House Wednesday” on the Aug. 31, 2016, episode of The World and Everything in It.