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President Donald Trump walked across the tarmac at Langley Air Force Base on Thursday.

Remarks that the president made to a gathering of TV anchors this week briefly gave cautious hope to immigrants and their advocates that Donald Trump could support a path to citizenship for thousands of immigrants now in the country illegally, a stark departure from his previous stances.

But hours later, those hopes were dashed when Trump made no mention of that sentiment in his first address to Congress.

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It was the latest twist in an evolving discussion of immigration that has kept policy watchers guessing.

Trump has been kind of all over the map on legal immigration, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, a research group that favors limits on immigration. But Trump has remained consistent in his focus on immigrants who have committed crimes, she said.

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Hes gone from they all have to go to were going to focus on the people causing problems, she said. I dont think hes lost the part that this needs to serve our national interest.

Yet another version of a piece of Trumps immigration crackdown is expected any day, when he releases a revised executive order designed to hold up in court.

It would revise one of the three executive orders on immigration he signed in January. The first two called for stepped up border security and enforcement of immigration laws, and broadened the pool of immigrants to target for deportation, leading to more arrests and detentions. The third order temporarily barred people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. The White House promised to replace that order after it was halted by a federal court, but the replacement has not yet been introduced.

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In his speech before Congress Tuesday, Trump said the time may be ripe for immigration reform, and suggested that the country should have a merit-based immigration system, which would prioritize the admission of immigrants with specific skills.

Steve Kropper, cochair of the Massachusetts Citizens for Immigration Reform, said Trump has so far introduced only attention-grabbing proposals, rather than initiatives that could lead to lasting change in the immigration system. It wont be long, he said, until Trump gives up, and perhaps even offers amnesty to those in the country illegally.

I doubt that Trump has the stamina for the long slog that is meaningful changes in immigration, Kropper said.

Advocates for immigrants say that the arrests of immigrants happening across the country, including two separate arrests of young people who were previously protected under Barack Obamas program for immigrants brought to the United States as children, have many people fearful, no matter what Trump may say now.

Its hard to tell whether the public backlash has actually had an effect on the administrations policy, or if theyre trying to create more confusion and chaos, said Laura Rotolo, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts who focuses on immigration. Whats happening on the ground is, there continues to be a true sense of confusion of what the policies are.

ERIK S. LESSER/EPA

President Donald J. Trump returned to the White House on Thursday.

For example, said Zoila Gomez, an immigration lawyer, a lawful permanent resident from the Dominican Republic whom federal officials want to deport was arrested at his home this week and is being detained while he awaits deportation proceedings, even though he had been allowed to remain free since 2014 as his case moved through the process.

What is the point of picking him up, and putting him in jail, when he is already in the system and complying? Gomez said.

In trying to understand the seeming mixed messages from the White House, policy observers said that its possible that the president is now listening to Cabinet members and other members of his administration and immigration advocates on the issue.

I do think his position has evolved, and I definitely see the influence of people now in his Cabinet in refining what his agenda is on immigration, Vaughan said.

She and others added, though, that such proposals are nothing more than proposals.

He wants to indicate hes open to something, but being open to talk to someone is different than having a plan, she said. If he were to embark on a big legalization program at this point in time, he would really upset a lot of his supporters.

Vaughan said the president has authority to enforce existing immigration laws in a way that protects the country, for instance by ordering the deportations of criminals, but she said that any true reform will need congressional action, something that hasnt happened since 1990.

In his speech Tuesday, Trump called on Congress to come to a compromise and take action.

I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: to improve jobs and wages for Americans, to strengthen our nations security, and to restore respect for our laws, Trump said.

Congressional Democrats and immigration advocates were not swayed. One group, the National Immigration Law Center, released a statement saying that Trump has already spread fear among immigrant communities.

Actions speak louder than words, Kamal Essaheb, policy and advocacy director, said in the statement.

Ira Mehlman, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said in an interview that he does not believe the president has wavered or changed course, even after Tuesdays speech, but instead has followed through on the campaign promises he made, to target criminals and create a merit-based immigration system. There really shouldnt be any confusion, he said.

You have to listen to what the president said, and until you hear otherwise, thats the presidents position, he said. It all seems to indicate he believes our immigration laws need to be enforced, and our legal immigration system needs to be overhauled.

As far as were concerned, thats the policy of the administration, he said.

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Mixed messages from Trump on immigration - The Boston Globe

The group includes rabbis and bishops and pastors from Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Episcopal congregations.

The group includes rabbis and bishops and pastors from Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Episcopal congregations.

Faith leaders press for immigration reform

Interfaith leaders gathered Friday at the Catholic Chancery in downtown Houston in an urgent plea to Congress to stop separating families and push for a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally

The coalition says they have grown frustrated in the first months of President Donald Trump's administration after a series of executive orders and policy changes targeting immigrants in the country illegally.

"We've put them in an untenable position," said Lutheran Bishop Michael Rinehart. "We've been stuck in this situation for years, and these are very good people who are contributing to our tax base and our economy."

Under the Obama administration Immigration and Customs Enforcement focused their priorities on deporting felons and criminals. But the recent deportation of a Houston-area man without a criminal record and a college student who spoke out against the new policies at a news conference have stunned immigrant communities throughout the country.

Advocates are highlighting the case of Jose Escobar, a Houston father who had been granted temporary protection in 2012 and was deported Thursday. They say his case is in sharp contrast to the drug dealers and gang members Trump said the administration was having great success in deporting.

The father of two and husband to a United States citizen was detained during a check-in last month with immigration officials. Escobar's legal status was essentially lost when his mother believed he was automatically included in her visa renewal application. He was deported back to his home country of El Salvador, a country he hasn't seen in 16 years.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo said the outlook deported immigrants face is bleak. The process of legally coming back to the United States involves returning to a country many no longer know, applying for a green card remotely and waiting, in some cases, for years to have their cases heard.

"It is impacting the lives of real people in our congregations," Rinehart said. "We have seen the turmoil in our own communities that has already been created."

The group urged Congress to consider a "compassionate" path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants illegally in the United States, including 1.4 million who came to the U.S. without authorization as children known as "Dreamers."

The federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program does not provide legal status, but lets those who came to the United States as minors obtain a renewable two-year work permit.

"Our DACA children, our Dreamers, should be given the ability to fully embrace the American dream with access to citizenship," said the Rev. John Ogletree of the First Metropolitan Church.

There's a sense of urgency at Houston's first and biggest Mexican-American church, said Father Tim Gray.

Gray said between 80 and 90 percent of Our Lady of Guadalupe's congregation are of a vulnerable legal status and could be affected by the recent shift in immigration policy.

"I'm here to show our concern for the status of the people that have been living here for many years and are now being threatened," Gray said. "People that consider themselves residents they have families, they have homes, they have jobs. They're here for many years and suddenly they're realizing that that could all disappear."

Rinehart said individual parishes are educating their members on emergency plans in case they are detained, but can do little to actually prevent it from happening or provide resources after they have been deported.

At his first address to a joint Congress on Tuesday, Trump hinted at a softer stance on immigration law. The possibility of a path to citizenship is a significant pivot from his previously bold stance, anchored by his campaign promise to build a wall on the Mexican border.

The interfaith group began meeting almost a decade ago. DiNardo, the Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, said their primary focus is to advocate for immigration reform.

"We first spoke out because we thought there was a real chance something could be done," DiNardo said. "We think religiously it's important, and morally it's important."

The cardinal said the softened rhetoric gave the coalition hope that reform could be more attainable than they previously thought.

"The fact that the president mentioned the other night that Congress should work on this is a sign of hope," DiNardo said. "That's the only place where it can be done."

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Faith leaders press for immigration reform - Chron.com

After a bit of a head-fake on Tuesday afternoon, President Trumpopted not to call for comprehensive immigration reform in his speech Tuesday night. Instead, he spoke obliquely about a bipartisan way "to achieve an outcome that has eluded our country for decades" -- without referring to the path to legal status he had been flirting with.

So yet again, we're left wondering what Trump's real intentions are onimmigration reform. And I'll admit that I'm skeptical he's really changed his spots, given his history of hard-line rhetoric. (CNN quotes a Trump administration official saying it was all a "misdirection play" -- whatever that means.)

But here's the thing: If there's one Republicanwho could make comprehensive immigration reform happen -- if he wanted to -- it's Trump.

The big sticking point has always been that the GOP base has chewed up and spit out every attempt at comprehensive reform over the last decade-plus, no matter the poor soul who took the lead. George W. Bush and John McCain tried and failed, then Marco Rubio did. All of them ran into a base that recoiled at legalizing those who broke the law when they came to the United States, and congressional GOP support quickly dried up.

But Trump has shown a remarkable knack for getting the Republican Party to kick its political purity habit and bend on its principles. He's effectively morphed the GOP into an anti-free trade party that is okay with massive infrastructure spending and doesn't care that its president is a late-comer to social conservatism. Trump's appeal has always been about his tone rather than the details, which he's often worked out and fudged as he's gone along.

"I think Donald Trump has an ability to solve the problem unlike anybody in recent times," Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Wednesday night. "We always pass the bill in the Senate like 68 votes. It goes to the House. My Republican colleagues in the House -- it always dies. I think Trump has the ability to tell the right, you know, this is a good deal, take it. "

And we don't have to look too far back for an example of how Trump could do it on immigration.

Back in August, it looked like Trump was flirting with comprehensive reform. As it happens, Ann Coulter had just released a book deifying Trump and saying"there's nothing Trump can do that won't be forgiven ... except change his immigration policies."

But plenty of hard-line conservatives did seem ready to forgive even such an apostasy.

Trump, in fact, originally suggested he might be open to "softening" his approach to immigration reform on Sean Hannity's show -- after Hannity tossed a softball of a question that might as well have come from an immigration reform activist. "Is there any part of the law that you might be able to change that would accommodate those people that contribute to society, have been law-abiding, have kids here, would there be any room in your mind?" Hannity asked.

After Trump said "there certainly can be a softening," Hannity didn't push back or probe further.

There was also, as Callum Borchers noted at the time, a remarkably muted response from Breitbart News, the purveyor of hard-line, nationalist immigration policies if there ever was one. The website basically reported what Trump said and didn't bother to add any context or commentary. The Drudge Report let it slide too.

And The Post's Ed O'Keefe and Jenna Johnson reported from a Trump rally in Florida that Trump supporters weren't really bothered by the rhetorical shift:

Hes calmed it down, a little bit, but hes still going, said [Babs] Buffington, 75, who attended Trumps campaign rally here Wednesday afternoon. Hes still going to build the wall.

Her daughter agreed.

Thats the most important thing, said Krista Kosier, 51. Hes still going to build the wall. Hes still going to get rid of the murderers and rapists and those wreaking havoc in our country.

(Side note: "Babs Buffington" is a real person's name.)

Rush Limbaugh got in on it, too. Rather than knocking Trump for going soft, he relished the fact that Trump supporters weren't ditching Trump over the possible immigration flip-floppery. He was apparently happier it was giving the press fits and didn't care so much that Trump might be throwing in the towel.

"Trump supporters don't care what he does or what he says because there is no way they are going to do anything that helps elect Hillary Clinton," said Limbaugh. "It's no more complicated than that."

It is slightly more complicated than that, of course. Trump supporters and the GOP base are much more willing to give Trump a pass on stuff like this not just because he's not-Clinton, but because they believe his heart's in the right place -- which is not an assumption many of them were able to make with the likes of Bush, McCain, Mitt Romney and Rubio. That gives Trump plenty more latitude to do things on policy that the base might have ideological issues with in another politician.

Whether or not Trump actually wants to do comprehensive immigration reform, again, is very much an open question. And if he attempted it, perhaps it would ultimately go as poorly for him as it did for those who tried and failed before him.

But he is also uniquely suited to make it happen -- if he wants.

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Why Trump could be the one man to make immigration reform happen if he wanted to - Washington Post

The Detroit News Published 10:44 p.m. ET March 2, 2017 | Updated 13 hours ago

An extended family of eight from Colombia are detained Feb. 25 near Hemmingford, Quebec.(Photo: Geoff Robins / Getty Images)

President Donald Trump dropped hints this week that he is open to comprehensive legislation reform that deals with both border security and the roughly 12 million immigrants who are living in the United States illegally.

Congress should take advantage of the opening and present him with a bill that replaces a hodgepodge of executive orders with legislation that brings sensible reform to immigration policies.

And they dont have to start from scratch.

A decade ago Congress and then-President George W. Bush got close on a package of reforms that would have both secured the borders and provided a path to normalization for people in the U.S. without legal permission.

It was a solid plan, forged from a bipartisan compromise, but unfortunately never got a vote.

That package included funding for 300 additional miles of vehicle barriers on the southern border, 120 more surveillance towers and 20,000 extra Border Patrol agents.

Such a beefed up security force should be able to accomplish the same thing as Trumps proposed border wall, but at a fraction of the cost and less political fallout.

Also, the bills would have given visa priority to high-skilled workers, something Trump mentioned in his speech to Congress Tuesday. American industry needs more immigrant talent to grow the economy.

It would also have provided legal status to immigrants here illegally and a path toward citizenship.

The latter provision sticks in the craw of hardliners who believe its possible to round up and deport 12 million people. It isnt, and pretending otherwise hinders a realistic immigration solution.

A Bush-style plan would still allow for the deportation of immigrants who commit felonies, and it should. But it hangs on to immigrants who are working and living productive lives, and are needed in Americas workforce. An estimated 85 percent of those 12 million fall into that category.

At the same time, the additional border security should keep the number of immigrants here illegally from growing.

Getting the border under control and normalizing those who are already here would allow the United States to focus on more controlled and selective immigration that brings in the talent the country needs, as well as leaving the door open for opportunity and asylum seekers who want to come here to grow and be safe.

Other bills introduced in that era and supported by Bush would have expanded the guest worker program to accommodate farm workers and others who want to come to the U.S. for a season and then return home. Such a program would reduce the incentive to sneak across the border illegally.

Again, these bills were the product of bipartisan negotiations. Whether putting together legislation in that fashion is possible in todays divisive, hateful climate in Washington is uncertain.

But there should be enough agreement on the core principles of immigration reform increased border security, a path to normalization and a welcome mat for those with vital skills that a comprehensive package can be passed that solves the problem far more effectively than a giant wall ever could.

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Editorial: Commit to real immigration reform - The Detroit News

"It is a basic principle that those seeking to enter a country ought to be able to support themselves financially," Trump said Tuesday during his speech to Congress. "Yet, in America, we do not enforce this rule, straining the very public resources that our poorest citizens rely upon."

While there is general support in Washington for such a plan, however, Trump did not clarify what he envisioned by a merit-based system -- a term that could signal a compromise position with broad support or one that critics say may clamp down on even legal immigration to the U.S. even further. The White House press office did not respond to requests seeking further information.

But there are some clues as to how this system would work.

Related: In Arizona, the mandated use of E-Verify has had mixed results

Generally speaking, merit-based systems favor highly-skilled immigrants with some level of higher education.

The U.S. had a version of a merit-based system in place until 1952. At the time, applicants were selected based on the results of a literacy test. But in the 1950s, the U.S. began moving toward a family-based immigration system.

This system, which has been in place ever since, focuses on allowing spouses and relatives of U.S. citizens into the country. The U.S. also issues special visas for workers and refugees, too.

Proponents of a merit-based system say inviting the best and brightest minds into the country will make America more competitive and reduce the number of low-income immigrants relying on public benefits.

"If you decide to come to the United States immediately following college, are you more valuable than if you come a year before your retirement? Are you more valuable if you're educated than if you're not? All of those are just common sense and we're virtually the only desirable country on Earth that doesn't have a merit system," said Rep Darrell Issa, who in 2013 wrote the SKILLS bill, which sought to increase the cap on H-1B and other types of visas for highly skilled workers, among other things. That bill was passed by the House but was not passed by the Senate.

Another compromise that sought to reform both high- and low-skilled immigration was the 2013 Gang of Eight bill that passed the Senate but died in the House. After Trump's speech, Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake suggested that bill could be a "blueprint" for what the president discussed.

But there's another interpretation of merit-based systems, one that was long advocated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he was a senator. He and other advocates for restricting immigration envision a merit-based system where far fewer immigrants are admitted and efforts are made to ensure that those that do get into the country, don't compete with American workers.

Sens. Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, and David Perdue, of Georgia, have proposed a bill that would cut U.S. immigration by half, by cutting back on family immigration, lowering refugee visas and ending diversity lotteries. That approach has far less support in the Senate.

In a statement Dan Stein, who is President of Federation for American Immigration Reform, a longtime Sessions ally and like-minded group, said the shift to merit-based immigration would "ensure that we can maximize the benefits of immigration while minimizing the downside."

Critics of merit-based systems say they unfairly favor wealthy immigrants and cut off a crucial supply of low-skilled workers. They also note that immigrants do not rely on public benefits as much as Trump and other conservatives claim they do.

Related: How immigrants helped save the economy of Akron, Ohio

"Family immigration has not ever been proven to be a drain on society," said Leon Fresco, former head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Immigration Litigation during President Obama's administration. "Its entire premise is that the family takes charge of the immigrant."

Those looking for insights into Trump's plan could look to Canada and Australia. Both countries use point-based systems to assess whether a person qualifies to enter the country as a skilled worker. Applicants earn points based on things like their level of education, age, work experience, ability to speak English (or in Canada, French as well) and whether they have a job waiting for them.

Canada's federal skilled worker system, for example, awards a person who has a Ph.D 25 points, while a person with a master's gets 23. If an applicant scores a total of 67 points or higher, they can qualify to immigrate to Canada as a skilled worker.

Fresco said a points-based system may seem appealing, but there is one problem: Without a job offer, once these highly skilled immigrants arrive there is no guarantee that they can get work in their respective field. "If you do it solely on points and not on if the person has a job waiting for them, then you get a lot of 'Ph.D cabdrivers,'" he said.

And focusing solely on highly skilled immigrants won't help industries like farming and construction that rely heavily on low-skilled workers. Many employers in these industries say they are struggling to find workers and it's nearly impossible to find Americans willing to fill the jobs.

Competition for workers in the agricultural industry, for example, has sent average farm worker wages up 5% in the past year, to $12 an hour, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture figures.

One of the biggest hurdles for these industries is that there aren't enough options to help low-skilled workers to legally immigrate to the U.S., said Maria Lorena Cook, a professor of comparative labor at Cornell University.

"It is precisely this lack of legal immigration options for many low-skill immigrant workers, coupled with the structural dependence of broad sectors of the U.S. economy on immigrant workers, that is responsible for the large number of undocumented immigrants in the country today," she said.

Related: Sanctuary restaurants vow to protect undocumented workers

Both Canada and Australia offer avenues for lower-skilled immigrants to enter the country as well, but these are usually dependent on the immigrant having a job offer in hand first.

Canada has a guest worker program which serves the nation's agriculture industry, for example. It also has a Provincial Nominations Program in which its provinces can petition for immigrants who have the skills, education and work experience needed there.

"We still have a lot of question marks for what [Trump's merit-based immigration system] means, but it opens the door for Congress to start having more substantive conversations that could lead to legislation that could provide a legal and stable workforce for our farmers," said Kristy Boswell, director of Congressional relations with the American Farm Bureau Federation.

CNNMoney (New York) First published March 3, 2017: 11:17 AM ET

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Trump's merit-based immigration system: Who would get in? - CNNMoney