JOSÉ DÍAZ-BALART (HOST): To analyze this very controversial issue, two Republican analysts join us. In our studio, Rudy Fernandez, who worked as special assistant under the George W. Bush administration and has been critical of Donald Trump from the first moment. And from Washington, D.C., Alfonso Aguilar, Director of Latino Partnership, who rescinded his support for Donald Trump after his immigration speech in Arizona. Both of you, thank you very much for being with us. I'd like to start with you, Alfonso Aguilar, you initially were against Trump's candidacy then when he became the nominee of the Republican party you supported him, but this week you rescinded your support.

ALFONSO AGUILAR: That's right. This week has been like a roller coaster. Along with other Latino conservative leaders, Republicans, and I met during the primaries to denounce Donald Trump, criticize him for his comments against Mexican immigrants and his position on immigration. We denounced that publicly. But when he won the primary, we considered to reconsider because the alternative, Hillary Clinton, would be terrible for our nation. Her policies would be disastrous for our country. And we decided to give Donald Trump a second opportunity and see whether we could move him towards the center. And, look, for the past two months, we have been in conversations, and the signs until last week were that he was going to effectively move towards the center --

DÍAZ-BALART: What were these signals like? What type of signals were there? You met with him more than once, no?

AGUILAR: Yes, look, telling Hispanic leaders -- and he didn't say it only in private but also publicly -- that he was going to try to treat immigrants in a compassionate and humane way. Remember that last week he did a show on another channel with Sean Hannity where he said that he was going to soften his position, that the idea that those who did not have previous criminal charges that they had to leave the country, that that would be too complicated, opening to legalization. That's what he had been making us think up to the last moment. The same day that he gave his speech, his campaign director Kellyanne Conway in the morning was still talking about how Trump wanted to treat immigrants in a compassionate and humane way and finally he gives that speech where his proposal is even worse than the one he gave initially, basically saying to undocumented immigrants, “You either need to leave, or we'll deport you, and if you leave and want to come back we don't guarantee you will be able to reenter the country.” Look, honestly, there is no margin for someone like me to support him.

DÍAZ-BALART: Rudy, you saw this speech, you saw Trump's entire process that seemed to be changing. How do you see it?

RUDY FERNÁNDEZ: I want to congratulate my friend Alfonso. I had the opportunity to work with him for many years in Washington. He is a good person, and I think he made the right decision. I don't think it matters where you find yourself in the immigration debate, whether you are anti-illegal immigration, someone like Ted Cruz who wants to strengthen the border and put up a wall, or someone more reasonable, in the mid-center, what we want and what Trump owes to every American is a serious plan. I have been a harsh critic of Trump from the beginning, Jose, because his plan isn't serious. Yesterday in the same speech, I'll give you two examples. He said during his speech that from the very hour that he becomes president, the first hour, he emphasized, he is going to deport every criminal illegal in the country, and according to him, there are hundreds of thousands of people who qualify under this definition. Unless he is a wizard, or a god, and he can wave a magic wand, this is a false promise. He is mocking people, not only Mexicans, but also the people who support him. When he says to you that the issue of dividing families is not an American value, he doesn't understand the concept that this family is going to be divided because some are American and others are illegal. He doesn't understand the issue, and he's not a serious candidate.

DÍAZ-BALART: And I want to -- perhaps to better understand where we are and where we came from, at the beginning of his campaign, a strong position against undocumented immigrants of Mexican origin. “When Mexico sends its people,” he said, “it's not sending its best. It's sending people with many problems and they are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs,” Trump said, “They are bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” Later he seemed to have softened his position, saying that he would work with immigrants. August 23rd: “They will pay taxes, they should pay taxes. There is no amnesty. There will be no amnesty, but we will work with them,” he said. But as we have been discussing this week he declared that any undocumented person is subject to deportation.

(BEGIN CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP: Under my administration, anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed from our country to the country from which they came. Anyone who has entered the United States illegally will be subject to deportation. 

(END CLIP)

DÍAZ-BALART: Alfonso, were you surprised to see this speech from Trump this week, Wednesday night?

AGUILAR: Look, it wasn't anything surprising, I knew that something like this could happen, but I had hope that he was really thinking in the general election, and he was going to try to be more competitive with the Latino electorate in key states like Florida, Colorado, Nevada, which are states that he needs to win. Also try to seem a bit more moderate to try to win votes from independents and female voters, with whom he has problems. But it was a completely extreme speech. The same day that he went to Mexico, where it was a good visit, he looked presidential, Peña Nieto, I don't know what he was thinking, he did him a personal favor because they had a press conference that seemed to be a bilateral meeting between presidents. It made Trump look well, creating a crescendo. It seemed like he was moving this discourse to be more constructive on the topic of immigration, and he came out with this speech. Frankly -- and, look, another thing is the issue of him continuing to create this perception that the majority of undocumented immigrants are criminals. Having mothers of people who have died at the hands of undocumented immigrants at the end of his speech -- I understand it's a tragic situation, but trying to create this perception that the majority are criminals is just unfair because we know that the majority of undocumented immigrants are good, hardworking people.

FERNÁNDEZ: There's no doubt that Trump's influence has been damaging for the party and for the country. One of the phrases that still has not gotten a lot of attention in this speech is when he said that one of his goals with respect to immigration is to go back to historic levels in the balance of the population between people born here and those born in other countries. That is impossible to achieve. That is code for nativist people, people who want to go back to a country made up of European immigrants. This is a code to lower the amount of legal immigration, lower legal immigration. He is not only against illegal immigration but he also wants to reduce, probably by millions of people, legal immigration to this country.

Related:

Fox News Latino: Former GOP And Bush Administration Official: 'Hell No,' He Won't Vote For Trump

Previously:

CBS News Report: Hispanic Leaders Advising Trump “Disgusted” After His Immigration Speech

CNN Highlights White Nationalist Praise Of Trump's Immigration Speech

Media Reactions To Trump’s Immigration Speech: Same Extremist Trump