Gov. Chris Christie told another big lie on national TV Sunday when he charged that Hillary Clinton intends to grant amnesty to all undocumented immigrants, even rapists and killers, within her first 100 days in office.
"Clinton has a 100-day amnesty plan where everybody here, no matter whether you've been a criminal or not, no mater how you got here or not, is going to wind up becoming American citizens under Hillary Clinton's plan. And I think when voters look at that, they're going to say that's not what we want to have happen in our country."
Here are the facts: Clinton has vowed to propose legislation within 100 days that provides for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a position that is embraced by 72 percent of Americans, and by 56 of Republicans, according to the Pew Research Center.
But she has said consistently that violent criminals would not be eligible. It's on her web site. And she's made it clear on the stump as well, saying she would focus federal muscle on deporting "violent criminals, terrorists, and anyone who threatens our safety."
That is mainstream opinion. Only three years ago, the U.S. Senate voted on an immigration bill that embraced that approach, and it passed by a lopsided vote of 68-32 with strong bipartisan support. It died in the House.
Christie's slander comes as Donald Trump is preparing a major speech Wednesday in Arizona to clean up the mess he's made with his acrobatic flip-flops on immigration.
It started Tuesday when he told Sean Hannity at Fox News that he may not form a "deportation force" to expel all 11 million undocumented immigrants after all.
"There could certainly be a softening because we're not looking to hurt people," Trump said.
Since then, we've witnessed another amateur hour from the Trump campaign, one he is again blaming on the media. A day after saying he was "softening" his position he said he might be "hardening" it. Then he said undocumented immigrants might be able to stay if they paid back taxes, or left the country briefly to apply for legal status from their home countries. Comments from his surrogates were scattered all over the map as well.
Trump's core problem is that he saddled himself with a position that make no sense at all as he played to the party's fire-breathing base during the primary. Christie himself said so during the campaign, back in the day when he repeatedly said Trump was unsuited for the presidency.
Deportations peaked at about 400,000 a year under President Obama, so expanding that to 11 million would require hiring thousands of enforcement officers, building a new network of courts and prisons, and launching a door-to-door effort in nearly every major American city.
Michael Chertoff was head of Homeland Security and oversaw deportations under President George W. Bush.
"I can't even begin to picture how we could deport 11 million people in a few years where we don't have a police state," he told the New York Times.
As Christie himself said during the primary in New Hampshire: "There are not enough law enforcement officers in all the country if all they were doing is rounding up and deporting people."
Trump knows that he needs to move towards more sensible ground on immigration because that is where most Americans stand. But he wants to minimize defections from the hard-liners he used to win support in the primary.
How will he do it? Don't expect him to embrace a sensible reform that combines tough enforcement with a path to citizenship, as the bipartisan Senate bill did.
No, Trump will focus his fire on Clinton. And if history is any guide, he will lie about her just as Christie did on Sunday. Don't be fooled.
More: Tom Moran columns
Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.