Trump heads to Mexico looking to shake up presidential race

Donald Trump will travel to Mexico on Wednesday for a private meeting with President Enrique Peña Nieto, the same day Trump plans to deliver a speech on immigration in Phoenix.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, an immigration hardliner who serves as a top adviser to Trump, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will accompany the Republican presidential nominee on the trip, a campaign official said.

Last Friday, Peña Nieto sent invitations to both the Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigns for the candidates to meet with him, Peña Nieto's office said in an emailed response to questions. Peña Nieto and Trump both confirmed their planned meeting on Twitter.

"I have accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto, of Mexico, and look very much forward to meeting him tomorrow," Trump wrote.

The trip for a candidate who has described Mexican immigrants to the U.S. as "rapists" and proposed deporting millions of undocumented workers and their families was a go unless the Secret Service nixed it for safety reasons, a campaign aide said.

Trump is expected to deliver a speech on Wednesday in which he will lay out his proposals on immigration after weeks of conflicting reports about whether he is moderating on the issue. His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said on Bloomberg TV's With All Due Respect that Trump's proposals would include building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, ending sanctuary cities, and offering no amnesty for immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.

Conway portrayed the immigration proposals of Democratic nominee Clinton as "scary as heck" and as a "radical plan."

Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri made sure to frame Wednesday's meeting in the context of Trump's past remarks about Mexican immigrants.

"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 U.S. citizens. He has said we should force Mexico to pay for his giant border wall," Palmieri said in a statement. "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."

Trump, who trails Clinton by 5 percentage points in a head-to-head matchup in the RealClearPolitics national poll average, is looking to win over conservative Hispanics as well as independent voters who traditionally favor a path to citizenship for undocumented workers already in the U.S.

The campaign has embraced the families of people who have been murdered by undocumented immigrants, appearing with them on stage at rallies.

Another staple of Trump's stump speech is his assurance that Mexico will pay for a border wall with the U.S., and his website spells out his plan for blocking remittances if they do not.

"It's an easy decision for Mexico: make a one-time payment of $5-10 billion to ensure that $24 billion continues to flow into their country year after year," the candidate says on his website.

Peña Nieto visited President Barack Obama in Washington in July the day after Trump spoke at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. That same month, he told CNN that Mexico will not put up the cash.

"There is no way that Mexico can pay [for] a wall like that," Peña Nieto said.

In an interview earlier this year with the Mexican newspaper El Universal, Peña Nieto compared Trump's rhetoric to that of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Some Mexican analysts see Wednesday's meeting in a positive light.

"Peña Nieto will look like more of a statesman and diplomat by receiving him than by denying the possibility of a meeting," said Alejandro Schtulmann, president of Mexico City-based political-risk advisory and consulting firm Empra. "For the Mexican government, as long as the meeting takes place in Mexico, it will be a positive development. If Peña Nieto were to travel to the U.S. for it, people would see him as a sellout. If Trump comes to Mexico's, he's trying to mend fences."

Many other Mexicans remain skeptical that hosting Trump is a good idea.

"I think it's a highly risky thing which can backfire very easily on Peña Nieto. It can strengthen Trump if it's run correctly by the Trump campaign. I don't see what advantage Peña Nieto or Mexico get out of it," said Andres Rozental, a former Mexico deputy foreign minister under President Carlos Salinas.

Late Tuesday, Peña Nieto wrote on Twitter that he had invited the U.S. candidates to talk about the bilateral relationship with Mexico, and added that believes in dialogue to promote the interests of Mexico in the world as well as to protect Mexicans wherever they are.

Trump is betting that, if elected president, he will still hold the leverage needed to broker a deal with Mexico.

"The United States has borne the extraordinary daily cost of this criminal activity, including the cost of trials and incarcerations. Not to mention the even greater human cost. We have the moral high ground here, and all the leverage," Trump said.

Trump was in Washington state Tuesday night and is booked for fundraisers in California on Wednesday morning and his immigration speech in Arizona on Wednesday night.

Jonathan Roeder contributed.