Immigration expert Mark Krikorian dissects Donald Trump's ever changing, always evolving positions on immigration. At first, Trump explained that by using foreign labor, he was only being a smart businessman. But now he says that his hard and fast position taken since running for president that he would eliminate the visa program that brings in foreign workers at the expense of American workers, his position is "softening."

Just what does Donald Trump believe?

Any time Donald Trump has to talk about any aspect of immigration other than his border wall – the one Mexico’s going to pay for, in case you hadn’t heard – he falls back on his donor-class, crony-corporatist instincts. In the October CNBC debate, he essentially embraced Marco Rubio’s support for increased “skilled” worker visas and praised Mark Zuckerberg, both positions diametrically opposed to his published immigration platform.

Then in the debate late last month, he embraced the Chuck Schumer/Marco Rubio position that there are Jobs Americans Won’t Do, specifically low-skilled jobs at his club in Palm Beach, and that foreigners have to be imported to do them.

In Thursday’s debate, he reiterated both anti-American-worker positions, favoring the importation of more high-skilled and low-skilled foreign workers. “I’m changing,” Trump said, regarding his views on skilled visas. “I’m changing it and I’m softening the position because we have to have talented people in this country.” True enough, except that we already have twice as many technical degree holders as there are tech jobs.

What made Trump’s “I’m changing” comment even more shameless than usual for him is that just on Sunday he held a rally featuring former Disney employees who were replaced by the very foreign worker program he’s now praising.

And just as happened in October, his appalled staff quickly fired off a press release this morning essentially saying “Never mind.” It ends, “I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program. No exceptions.” At least until the next time he’s asked about it.

Trump also reiterated his position that he has no choice but to hire foreign workers to make beds and the like at his Florida resorts. His defense is they’re seasonal jobs: “It’s a few months, five months at the most. People don’t want a short-term job.

Trump fails to mention that he has continously applied for extensions of those "seasonable jobs":

The work period for Mar-a-Lago’s guest workers, according to the petitions, is nearly always October 1 to May 31, which is 8 months. On other occasions, his company petitioned for even longer periods. For example, in 2009, the Trump National Golf Club petitioned for guest workers for the period January 26 through November 20.

Is Trump unaware of his own policies or is he lying? Given the statement from his staff repudiating what he had just said about visas in the debates, you have to think The Donald is ignorant of the policies of his own companies. 

Yes...a great businessman.

I guess if Trump is elected president, we'll all have to wait and see what his immigration policies will actually be.