Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is slated to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto as he tries to clarify his past comments about Mexico and immigration. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) 
 
 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is slated to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto as he tries to clarify his past comments about Mexico and immigration. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) 
 
 Donald Trump will travel to Mexico City on Wednesday for a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, just hours before he delivers a high-stakes speech in Arizona to clarify his views on immigration policy. 
 
 Peña Nieto last Friday invited both Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to visit Mexico, his office said in a statement provided to The Washington Post on Tuesday night. 
 
 Trump, sensing an opportunity, decided over the weekend to accept the invitation and push for a visit this week, according to the people in the United States and Mexico familiar with the discussions. 
 
 Late Tuesday, Trump and the Mexican president confirmed on Twitter that they will meet Wednesday. 
 
 “I have accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto, of Mexico, and look very much forward to meeting him tomorrow,” Trump wrote Tuesday night. Shortly after, Peña Nieto’s office wrote that “El Señor” Donald Trump has accepted the invitation and will meet privately on Wednesday with Peña Nieto. 
 
 1 of 13 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × How Mexicans are reacting to Trump’s rhetoric View Photos Politicians, comedians, artists and developers hit back at Trump’s inflammatory speech. Caption Politicians, comedians, artists and developers hit back at Trump’s inflammatory speech. Oct. 3, 2015 Mexican comedians put on a play called “Los Hijos de Trump,” or “Sons of Trump." In this play, Trump and his golden-haired carbon copies steal from the blind and bribe the police. The play was adapted from another play, a satire on big spenders, "Brokers." Henry Romero/Reuters Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 Peña Nieto later tweeted that he believes in dialogue in order to “promote the interests of Mexico in the world and, principally, to protect Mexicans wherever they are.” 
 
 The visit comes after Trump has wavered for weeks on whether he will continue to hold his hard-line positions on the central and incendiary issue of his campaign, in particular his call to deport an estimated 11 million immigrants who are living in the United States illegally. 
 
 The people informed of Trump’s plans spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the matter. They said earlier Tuesday that talks between the Trump campaign and Mexican officials were ongoing, with security concerns still being sorted out. 
 
 [Trump risks alienating voting blocs with wavering on immigration] 
 
 Trump is scheduled to hold fundraisers Wednesday morning in California and deliver his immigration speech in the evening at the Phoenix Convention Center. His trip to Mexico will come between his events. 
 
 The Clinton campaign shrugged off Trump’s trip as a distraction from his policies. “What ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportation of millions,” wrote Jennifer Palmieri, a senior Clinton campaign adviser, in a statement. 
 
 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has promised to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border if he wins the election. Here's what people living along the border have to say about that wall. (Zoeann Murphy,Samuel Granados,Kevin Schaul,Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post) 
 
 A Clinton campaign official confirmed that Clinton received a letter requesting an in-person meeting with the Mexican leader. Clinton has not yet accepted. 
 
 “Secretary Clinton last met with President Peña Nieto in Mexico in 2014 and our campaign is in a regular dialogue with the Mexican government officials,” the aide said. “She looks forward to talking with President Peña Nieto again at the appropriate time.” 
 
 The aide requested anonymity to discuss the potential meeting. 
 
 The invitation is a stunning move by Peña Nieto, given the grief that Trump’s campaign has caused the Mexican government over the past year. From calling Mexican illegal immigrants rapists and criminals, to vowing to build a wall along the Southern border, to threatening to undo the North American Free Trade Agreement, Trump has caused growing alarm in Mexico. Peña Nieto himself likened Trump’s rhetoric to that of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, in a March interview with a Mexican newspaper. 
 
 To the delight of his U.S. rally crowds, Trump has repeatedly promised to force Mexico to pay for his proposed border wall. Peña Nieto and other Mexican leaders have dismissed the idea as preposterous. 
 
 “There is no way that Mexico can pay [for] a wall like that,” Peña Nieto said in a July interview on CNN, adding that he did not agree with Trump’s frequent characterization of illegal immigrants from Mexico as rapists and killers. 
 
 Trump’s newly installed campaign chief executive, Stephen K. Bannon, played a key role in devising the Wednesday stop while Trump met Sunday with his aides and family at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., according to two people who have been briefed on the campaign’s deliberations. 
 
 Bannon, who previously headed the conservative website Breitbart News, made the case to the group that Trump must underscore his populist immigration views in the final weeks of the general-election campaign, perhaps with an audacious gesture. 
 
 [Donald Trump calls for ‘deportation force’ to remove undocumented immigrants] 
 
 Peña Nieto’s invitation was brought up, and Bannon said it offered Trump an opening to make headlines and showcase himself as a statesman who could deal directly with Mexico. 
 
 Trump was intrigued by Bannon’s proposal and agreed, but not all aides and allies were as enthusiastic, the people said. 
 
 Trump appointed Bannon to his post and veteran pollster Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager this month after sidelining campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who subsequently resigned. He has been navigating a flood of conflicting advice this summer about where to land on immigration as he has publicly wrestled with himself on the details of his position. 
 
 Following Sunday’s strategy session, plans came together quickly but not without hurdles and some tensions. 
 
 Early this week, representatives for Trump contacted the U.S. Embassy in Mexico about his intentions, according to a person in Mexico familiar with the communications between the two sides. 
 
 Trump’s representatives were told privately by officials that it would be logistically difficult for Trump to visit. But the businessman’s proxies insisted that Trump would not delay his plans, the person said. 
 
 Overseas visits by senior U.S. officials normally require weeks of intricate planning on both sides, as every movement and meeting is plotted. When more security is required, such trips become even more complicated. 
 
 Security staffs traveling with the visitor are usually beefed up. While Mexico is not considered a hostile place, the crime level is high, and Trump, should he appear in public, would require significant protection. 
 
 The invitation — and particularly a visit — seems certain to cause a backlash in Mexico City, where Trump is widely disliked. Mexicans have bashed Trump piñatas, burned him in effigy during public street parties and staged plays about him as a comic villain. 
 
 [Trump on undocumented immigrants: ‘We are going to get rid of the criminals’] 
 
 When Trump declared his candidacy in 2015, he was seen by many in Mexico as insulting but not to be taken very seriously. Mexican diplomats back then scoffed at the notion that Trump was a serious candidate or that the government was worried about his ascent. 
 
 That’s all changed now. Many of Mexico’s government and business elite have grown skittish about the potential of a Trump presidency and the economic damage that his policies might inflict. The United States is Mexico’s most important trading partner. 
 
 Earlier this year, Peña Nieto swapped out key diplomats, including the Mexican ambassador to the United States, to have a more aggressive presence advocating for the importance of a strong relationship between the two countries. 
 
 Several Mexican officials were surprised to learn on Tuesday that Peña Nieto had extended an invitation to Trump. 
 
 “Wow,” one said, when reached by The Post. 
 
 “This is an extraordinarily surprising, but welcome, development, whether it ends up happening or not,” said Andrew Selee, a Mexico expert at the Wilson Center in Washington. “Mexico is a vital country for U.S. foreign policy and economic interests. The second destination for exports and the country of origin of a tenth of all Americans.” 
 
 Several Mexican politicians were quick to criticize the meeting. Miguel Barbosa, an opposition senator with the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution, tweeted about Trump: “Your presence in Mexico is not welcome. Get out! You come to take a photo with those you’ve offended.” 
 
 “It is a political error by [Peña Nieto] to use this lying anti-Mexican,” Barbosa wrote in another tweet. 
 
 A Mexican presidential hopeful with the right-wing National Action Party, Margarita Zavala, tweeted that even though Trump was invited to Mexico, he was not welcome. 
 
 “Mexicans have dignity and we reject your discourse of hate,” she wrote. 
 
 Former Mexican president Vicente Fox tweeted “Adios, Trump!” 
 
 Trump’s Phoenix speech later Wednesday is expected to add to the day’s drama, with declarations by candidate about where exactly he stands on his immigration policy and border security. 
 
 Bannon and Trump speechwriter Stephen Miller have had a heavy influence over the speech’s contours, the people familiar with the campaign said. Miller is a former aide to Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a Trump confidant who has urged him to hold to his tough positioning and rhetoric on immigration. 
 
 And while Trump’s associates have framed his speech and trip as presidential moves, the surprise gambit also fits his career-long tendency for theater and confrontation. 
 
 Partlow reported from Mexico City. Jenna Johnson contributed to this report. ||||| A demonstrator protesting Donald Trump's meeting with the Mexican president holds up a book jacket with the title; "Stop Trump!" during a morning protest at the Angel of Independence Monument that drew... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. presidential campaign (all times EDT): 
 
 10:10 p.m. 
 
 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he will order the immediate detention of all known immigrants in the U.S. illegally who have been arrested for crimes. 
 
 He says on the first day in office he will "issue detainers for illegal immigrants who are arrested" and initiate immediate proceedings to remove them. 
 
 For people caught crossing the border illegally, Trump referenced the 1950s-era "Operation Wetback." He said that "we will take them great distances" instead of sending them just across the U.S. border. 
 
 Trump said, "We will take them to the country where they came from." 
 
 He said his administration will take a hard line on criminal aliens. He said the U.S. will be "moving them out on Day One." 
 
 To thunderous applause, Trump continues that he will seek legislation to block federal funding for so-called sanctuary cities that shelter immigrants in the country illegally. 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:00 p.m. 
 
 Donald Trump continues to insist that Mexico will pay for the wall he wants to build along the length of the southern border. 
 
 Trump says during a speech on immigration that Mexico will pay for the wall, "100 percent." 
 
 He says, "They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for" it. 
 
 Trump met with Mexico's president earlier Wednesday and said they did not discuss who would pay for the massive wall that has been at the center of Trump's campaign. 
 
 But President Enrique Peña Nieto said he reiterated to Trump that Mexico would not be paying for the wall. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:55 p.m. 
 
 Donald Trump says the nation's immigration policy must focus on what is best for American citizens, not those living in the country illegally. 
 
 He says, "There is only one core issue in the immigration debate and that issue is the well-being of the American people." 
 
 Still he says that he intends to treat "everyone living or residing" in the country with "great dignity." 
 
 Trump is also accusing President Barack Obama and his rival Hillary Clinton of engaging in a "gross dereliction of duty" for supporting more liberal immigration policies. 
 
 He says that Clinton talks about the families that would be separated if people in the country illegally were deported, but she doesn't talk about families impacted negatively by illegal immigration. 
 
 Just days ago, Trump was praising the number of people deported under the Obama administration. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:50 p.m. 
 
 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is opening his long-awaited immigration policy speech by detailing the stories of illegal immigrants who committed violent crimes. 
 
 Trump is telling thousands in the convention center in downtown Phoenix that he has "met with many of the great parents who lost their children to sanctuary cities and open borders." 
 
 He talked about beatings and stabbings of young women, then said simply, "It's not going to happen anymore." 
 
 Before Trump took the stage, families of such victims addressed the audience, describing how their children or loved ones were killed and thanking Trump for his promise to enforce the U.S.-Mexican border. 
 
 Trump is emphasizing illegal immigrants accused of crimes, an issue of far less controversy than what to do with the millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally who have not been accused of crimes. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:40 p.m. 
 
 Donald Trump says that he had a "thoughtful and substantive" conversation with Mexico's president on Wednesday as he kicks off a long-awaited speech on immigration. 
 
 Trump says his surprise meeting with Enrique Peña Nieto included a discussion of stopping the flow of illegal drugs across the southern border, and a shared goal to put drug cartels out of business. 
 
 Trump launched his campaign with a speech that accused Mexico of sending its rapists and criminals across the border. 
 
 But Trump is striking a different tone Wednesday, saying that, if the countries work together, "we're all going to win." 
 
 ___ 
 
 7:05 p.m. 
 
 The president of Mexico says Donald Trump wasn't telling the truth when he described their Wednesday conversation. 
 
 Specifically, President Enrique Peña Nieto said that he and Trump did indeed discuss who would pay for construction of a massive wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. That's the centerpiece of Trump's immigration plan. 
 
 Trump and Peña Nieto met privately in Mexico City on Wednesday afternoon. 
 
 When they emerged from the meeting, Trump told reporters they discussed the wall, but not paying for it. 
 
 Hours later, Peña Nieto tweeted his version: "At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump, I made clear that Mexico would not pay for the wall." 
 
 The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
 
 ___ 
 
 6:50 p.m. 
 
 Donald Trump "choked" in Mexico. 
 
 That's according to Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, who says the Republican presidential nominee "doesn't have the courage to advocate for his campaign promises when he's not in front of a friendly crowd." 
 
 Trump defended his plan to build a wall on the United States' southern border during his Wednesday visit with the president of Mexico. But the New York businessman did not push his oft-mentioned promise to force Mexico to pay for the wall. 
 
 Podesta says "Trump choked" in what was his first opportunity to make good on "his offensive campaign promises." 
 
 ___ 
 
 4:55 p.m. 
 
 Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto says the Mexican people have been hurt by Donald Trump's past comments that painted them in a negative light. 
 
 Peña Nieto told reporters following a closed-door meeting that "misinterpretation or assertions" had negatively impacted perceptions of Trump's candidacy. 
 
 He added that, the "Mexican people have been hurt by the comments that had been made." But he said he's sure that Trump is genuinely interested in building a relationship that will benefit both countries. 
 
 Peña Nieto spoke in Spanish throughout. 
 
 ___ 
 
 4:40 p.m. 
 
 After meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Republican nominee Donald Trump says that both countries must respect the others' right to build a border wall on their soil to stop the movement of people, illegal drugs and weapons. 
 
 Trump says he and PeñaNieto discussed his call for a border wall during their meeting, but did not talk about Trump's insistence that Mexico pay for it. He says, "that'll be for a later date." 
 
 Trump says that having a secure border is a sovereign right and mutually beneficial. Mexicans have been outraged by the proposal. 
 
 ___ 
 
 4:35 p.m. 
 
 Republican Donald Trump is calling his surprise visit to Mexico City Wednesday a 'great honor.' And he says the nations share a common interest in keeping the hemisphere safe and prosperous. 
 
 The Republican presidential nominee said after meeting with President Enrique Peña Nieto that the pair had a substantive, direct and constructive exchange of ideas at the president's official residence in Mexico City. 
 
 This is Trump's first foreign visit as his party's nominee. 
 
 ___ 
 
 4:30 p.m. 
 
 Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is challenging Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's characterization of the situation on the U.S.-Mexican border. 
 
 Peña Nieto notes that the number of immigrants crossing the border illegally is down significantly "even to the point of being negative to a net effect." He spoke at a joint appearance Wednesday at the president's official residence. 
 
 While Peña Nieto says the countries have shared challenges, he says that there exists "an incomplete vision of the border issues," with weapons and cash flowing south from the U.S. and fueling violence. 
 
 He's also stressing U.S. exports to Mexico and the number of jobs reliant on the countries' trade relationship. 
 
 He says the Mexican people are people of "good will" who "deserve everybody's respect." 
 
 ___ 
 
 4:20 p.m. 
 
 Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto says that he and Donald Trump may not agree on everything, but that their meeting underscores their countries' shared interests. 
 
 Peña Nieto tells reporters that their meeting with the Republican nominee at the president's official residence in Mexico City was "open and constructive." 
 
 He says in Spanish that the next president "will find in Mexico and its government" a neighbor who "wants to work constructively to strengthen even more" the relationship between their nations. 
 
 ___ 
 
 2:55 p.m. 
 
 An official at the Mexico City international airport says a private plane carrying Republican candidate Donald Trump has touched down at the airport. 
 
 The official was not authorized to be quoted by name, nor did he provide the plane's registry number, or say how Trump would reach the official residence of President Enrique Pena Nieto, where the meeting with the Mexican leader is to take place. 
 
 Pena Nieto's office has confirmed there will be a meeting and subsequent press statement at the residence, which is across town from the airport. 
 
 Trump appeared likely to fly to the residence by helicopter, rather than cross town in any kind of motorcade. 
 
 —By E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:45 p.m. 
 
 Hillary Clinton says if elected president she will make clear that the U.S. "will treat cyberattacks just like any other attack." 
 
 Clinton says in a speech Wednesday to the American Legion convention in Cincinnati that the U.S. needs to "step up our game" and be able to defend itself against those who "go after us." 
 
 She blamed Russia for hacking into the Democratic National Committee and perhaps "even some state election systems." 
 
 Clinton says the United States will be ready with "serious political, economic and military responses" to any cyberattacks. 
 
 WikiLeaks released damaging emails during the Democratic National Convention that implied the DNC had favored Clinton over primary rival Bernie Sanders. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:10 p.m. 
 
 Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine says Donald Trump has "put his feet in concrete" on his immigration positions, regardless of what the Republican nominee says in an immigration-focused speech Wednesday night. 
 
 Kaine is visiting a Hispanic community center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, hours before Trump is set to speak and about his immigration plans. Trump's speech is being closely watched to see if he softens proposals to deport millions of people living in the United States illegally. 
 
 Kaine says Trump's words and actions have been "frightening" to Hispanics and he doesn't expect to hear a change in tone. And he says its "hard to say" what to expect out of Trump's meeting Wednesday with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:05 p.m. 
 
 Hillary Clinton is blasting Donald Trump for referring to the American military as "a disaster." 
 
 Clinton says in a sharply worded speech Wednesday to the American Legion convention that it's "an insult to the men and women serving today and all who have served before." 
 
 The Democratic presidential nominee is reiterating that she would send American troops into harm's way only as a "last resort," calling it a bedrock principal. 
 
 She also says the last thing the nation needs is a president "who brings more name-calling and temper tantrums to Washington," a reference to her Republican opponent. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1 p.m. 
 
 Hillary Clinton is tweaking rival Donald Trump's decision to travel to Mexico, saying it takes more to make up for a "year of insults and insinuations" than a quick trip to America's southern neighbor. 
 
 Clinton says at the American Legion's annual convention in Ohio that voters need to know that they can count on you. She says "it certainly takes more than trying to make up for a year of insults and insinuations by dropping in on our neighbors for a few hours and then flying home again." 
 
 The Democratic presidential nominee adds, "That is not how it works." 
 
 Trump was meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto later Wednesday. Trump's surprise visit was coming hours before a major address on immigration in Arizona. 
 
 ___ 
 
 12:55 p.m. 
 
 Hillary Clinton says the United States in "an exceptional nation" and is accusing rival Donald Trump of thinking that approach is "insulting to the rest of the world." 
 
 Clinton is speaking to the American Legion's annual convention in Cincinnati. She says the U.S. is an indispensable nation and has a "unique and unparalleled ability to be a force for peace and progress." 
 
 Referencing Trump's threats to "walk away from our alliances," she notes that when America fails to lead, the country leaves a vacuum for the rest of the world to fill. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:25 a.m. 
 
 Just days after Hillary Clinton criticized the Trump campaign for promoting groups and individuals associated with preserving "white identity," Donald Trump Jr. has retweeted an adherent of the "alt-right" movement that Clinton singled out for criticism. 
 
 Donald Trump's oldest son this week retweeted a post from Kevin MacDonald, a former professor at California State University Long Beach. MacDonald said last week that white people in America are becoming a victimized minority. He has been accused of anti-Semitism by critics, including the Southern Poverty Law Center. 
 
 MacDonald's tweet had to do with Clinton's State Department and perceived favoritism for UBS, a global financial services company that donated to the Clinton Foundation. 
 
 Trump Jr.'s retweet prompted Richard Spencer, a leader of the alt-right movement, to tweet "Wow. Just wow." 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:50 a.m. 
 
 Mike Pence says that Donald Trump's trip to Mexico demonstrates what a "decisive leader" he would be if elected president. 
 
 Trump's running mate told Fox News Wednesday that Trump immediately responded to an invitation by Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto to meet. He noted that Hillary Clinton received the same invitation but hasn't responded yet. 
 
 Pence said that Trump and Pena Nieto are expected to discuss the logistics of Trump's proposed border wall — something Trump insists Mexico will pay for, despite Pena Nieto's condemnation of the plan. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:35 a.m. 
 
 At least two demonstrations are planned in Mexico City as Mexicans express anger about the visit of Donald Trump. 
 
 Former first lady Margarita Zavala wrote in a tweet aimed at Trump: "Even though you may have been invited, we want you to know you're not welcome. We Mexicans have dignity, and we reject your hate speech." She's considered a potential presidential candidate for 2018. 
 
 Pena Nieto's office hasn't said where or when the meeting would be held, possibly in a bid to avoid protests outside the meeting site. 
 
 Leading historian Enrique Krauze also addressed Trump in a tweek, saying "We Mexicans expect nothing less than an apology for calling us "criminals and rapists". 
 
 Krauze told the Televisa TV network that, "Tyrants are to be confronted, not pacified." 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:30 a.m. 
 
 Mexico has awakened to the news that President Enrique Pena Nieto is going to meet with Republican candidate Donald Trump Wednesday, and many Mexicans don't like it. 
 
 Some analysts said the Republican nominee had left Pena Nieto flat-footed by accepting an invitation the Mexican president had made simply for appearances' sake. Trump is widely loathed in Mexico for calling migrants from the country "rapists" among other insults. 
 
 Mexico City-based security analyst Alejandro Hope suggested that Pena Nieto "wanted to invite Hillary (Clinton), but that meant inviting both of them, and nobody thought Trump would accept first." 
 
 He added: "What's in it for Mexico? " 
 
 The newspaper El Universal wrote in an editorial that Trump "caught Mexican diplomats off guard" by accepting the invitation. 
 
 ___ 
 
 3:10 a.m. 
 
 Donald Trump will be taking his first foreign trip as the Republican presidential nominee on Wednesday, making a quick visit to Mexico, a nation he derided as the home of rapists and criminals as he launched his campaign. 
 
 The meeting with President Enrique Pena Nieto, who earlier this year compared the billionaire candidate to Hitler, comes hours before Trump is set to deliver a highly-anticipated immigration speech. It's a defining issue for Trump, but one on which he has appeared to waiver. 
 
 After saying during his primary campaign he would expel all of the estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally with a "deportation force," Trump has suggested recently he might be open to "softening" his stance as he tries to win over more moderate general election voters. ||||| Republican presidential candidate – who wants to build a border wall – will meet Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday ahead of major immigration speech 
 
 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has confirmed that he will travel to Mexico on Wednesday to meet President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico City. 
 
 Moments before taking the stage for a rally in Everett, Washington, just north of Seattle, Trump tweeted that he had “accepted the invitation of President Enrique Peña Nieto, of Mexico, and look[ed] very much forward to meeting him tomorrow”. 
 
 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) I have accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto, of Mexico, and look very much forward to meeting him tomorrow. 
 
 The meeting will happen hours before Trump is scheduled to deliver a major address on immigration in Phoenix, Arizona, in which he will aim to clarify his increasingly murky stance on the issue. 
 
 It was confirmed by the official Twitter account for the Mexican presidency, which said: 
 
 Presidencia México (@PresidenciaMX) El Señor @realDonaldTrump ha aceptado esta invitación y se reunirá mañana en privado con el Presidente @EPN. 
 
 Translated, the tweet says that Trump “has accepted the invitation and will meet privately tomorrow with the president”. 
 
 Peña Nieto – who has previously compared Trump to Hitler and Mussolini – said via Twitter that he had invited both presidential candidates to Mexico “to discuss bilateral relations”, adding: “I believe in dialogue to promote the interests of Mexico in the world and to protect Mexicans wherever they are.” 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto said he had invited Trump, despite having previously compared him to Hitler. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP 
 
 The Trump campaign did not respond to repeated requests for comment. However, Josh Green, a reporter for Bloomberg News, said Trump would be accompanied on the trip by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Alabama senator Jeff Sessions. 
 
 Trump surrogates: Republican's position on immigration has not changed Read more 
 
 Trump, who launched his campaign in 2015 with the announcement that Mexico was “bringing their worst people”, including “rapists”, to the US, had been scheduled to appear at fundraisers in California on Wednesday morning, before delivering his immigration address in Phoenix at 6pm local time (9pm ET). 
 
 The trip to Mexico City to meet Peña Nieto – who has previously invited Trump to debate him in Mexico – will likely occur sometime in the middle of the day. 
 
 The proposal was first broached with the US embassy in Mexico City earlier this week, a fast-tracking of an international visit by an American presidential candidate that is typically planned over the course of weeks. 
 
 In recent days, Trump has been increasingly vague on his position about the legal status of the 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the US. During the Republican primary, Trump appealed to the conservative base by calling for a “deportation force” to remove all undocumented immigrants from the country. 
 
 However, on a recent trip to Iowa, Trump said the policy issue was driven by the media. “In recent days, the media – as it usually does – has missed the whole point on immigration. All the media wants to talk about is the 11 million or more people here illegally,” he said at a fundraiser for Republican senator Joni Ernst. 
 
 In front of a crowd in Everett on Tuesday evening, Trump made no mention of his upcoming diplomatic mission, focusing instead on campaign speech favorites, including a rambling story in rhyming couplets about an ungrateful and poisonous snake, intended as an allegory about Muslim refugees to the US. 
 
 Also notably absent from the speech was perhaps Trump’s most essential motif: the wall he proposes to build along the US-Mexico border. 
 
 Trump’s approval ratings among Latino voters are historically bad, and his relationship with Peña Nieto’s government is even worse. Trump has long pledged to force Mexico to pay for the proposed 2,000-mile (3,220km) border wall, a suggestion the Mexican president responded to coldly. 
 
 
 
 “No way,” Peña Nieto told CNN earlier this year. 
 
 Peña Nieto has fallen on hard political times in recent months. The latest polls put his approval rating at just 23%, according to Mexico News Daily, as the president has been hit by personal scandals, as well as allegations of human rights abuses by police officers. Protests by teachers opposed to his educational reforms have led to widespread unrest and several deaths. 
 
 It is hard to see how inviting Trump to meet him would help Peña Nieto domestically, as Trump is, unsurprisingly, considerably less popular in Mexico than the president. In March, city legislators passed a non-legally binding bill to ban Trump from Mexico’s capital. 
 
 Peña Nieto’s predecessor, former president Vicente Fox, has been considerably more vocal in speaking out against the Republican nominee, calling Trump’s ideas “racist” and saying “I declare: I’m not going to pay for that fucking wall.” 
 
 Trump reveals plan to finance Mexico border wall with threat to cut off funds Read more 
 
 A spokesperson for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, said the focus should remain on Trump’s immigration speech in Arizona. Jennifer Palmieri, communications director for Hillary for America, said: “From the first days of his campaign, Donald Trump has painted Mexicans as ‘rapists’ and criminals and has promised to deport 16 million people, including children and US citizens. He has said we should force Mexico to pay for his giant border wall. He has said we should ban remittances to families in Mexico if Mexico doesn’t pay up. 
 
 “What ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportation of millions.” 
 
 Launching his presidential bid last year, Trump claimed “the US has become a dumping ground for everyone else’s problems”, pointing the finger at Mexico. 
 
 “They’re sending us not the right people,” he said. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing their problems. 
 
 “They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they tell us what we are getting.”
– Donald Trump is planning another trip outside his comfort zone with a visit to an African-American church in Detroit on Saturday, and he wasn't planning on taking any risks, according to a leaked script seen by the New York Times. The script contains a dozen questions that Bishop Wayne T. Jackson of Great Faith Ministries International was apparently planning to ask Trump in a closed-door session—and, more unusually for such an appearance, lengthy prepared answers for Trump. "I treasure my relationship with my family, and through them, I have a strong faith enriched by an ever-wonderful God," was Trump's prepared answer for a question about whether he is a Christian. "I want to make race disappear as a factor in government and governance," Trump was directed to say after a question about his vision for black Americans. After the script was leaked, a Trump campaign spokesman said the agenda has now changed and Trump plans to speak to the congregation directly after his interview session with the pastor. In other coverage: The Detroit Free Press looks at the uphill struggle Trump will have in order to win votes in Detroit, where Mitt Romney got just 2% of the vote in 2012. Some analysts believe the real purpose of Trump's visit is to show moderate Republicans elsewhere that he is willing to reach out to different groups of voters. The Washington Post analyzes Trump's latest proposals on immigration, and finds that immigration enforcement costs would leap by more than $50 billion over the next few years in order to put his plan into action. Politico looks at the state of the Trump campaign with 22 days to go before early voting begins. There has been some progress in areas including getting the candidate to stay on-message, but the campaign remains "transitory and unstable," with many aides unsure who is calling the shots. At FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver notes that the race is tightening as it nears the home stretch—and warns that Clinton supporters are mistaken if they think the electoral college math will save her if it continues to tighten. The Wall Street Journal reports that in his big immigration speech in Arizona Wednesday, Trump had originally planned to avoid mentioning a border wall. He changed his mind and added a line about Mexico paying for the wall after finding out that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto had told reporters that he told Trump Mexico wouldn't pay. "I had no choice," Trump, who thought they had an agreement not to discuss the wall at their first meeting, tells the Journal. Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani was at the meeting and says that when Peña Nieto declared Mexico wasn't going to pay, he said: "That's off the table" and the talks moved to another subject.