Trump Quotes Obama To Support Immigration Stance

Thirteen years ago, then-Senator Barack Obama called for reform to curb illegal immigration, using language that President Donald Trump might use today. On Tuesday, Trump tweeted the video clip to help him make his own point about immigration.

Trump tweeted a C-SPAN clip of the 2005 press conference when Obama called for immigrants to enter the U.S. through legal channels.

"I agree with President Obama 100%!" Trump said in his tweet.

"We are a generous and welcoming people here in the United States, but those who enter the country illegally and those who employ them disrespect the rule of law and they are showing disregard for those who are following the law," Obama said in the clip from Dec. 15, 2005. "We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, and lawfully to become immigrants in this country."

Obama was speaking alongside Senator Mel Martinez, R-Fla., about proposed immigration reform and enforcement of immigration laws and guest worker programs. Obama went on to call out employers who knowingly hired illegal immigrants. He also touted the need for a program to bring illegal immigrants out into the open for a chance at citizenship.

A hard stance on immigration was a key campaign platform that helped propel Trump to the presidency. He has been pushing the issue again as he stumps for congressional and gubernatorial candidates ahead of the Nov. 6 midterms. It comes as a caravan of an estimated 7,000 migrants, currently in southern Mexico, marches toward the U.S. border. Trump has threatened to use the military to shut down the border should the caravan arrive.