Kasich hopes Trump will become a ‘unifier’

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) says he hopes Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump will become a unifier rather than a divider.

“I’ve been listening to him lately, and you notice he’s toned down the rhetoric,” Kasich, who’s also running for the GOP nomination, said of Trump on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “I listened to your six-minute coverage of him, and he’s toning it down.”

“And I’m just hoping that as we go forward he’s going to be a unifier,” he said. “Because I’m going to tell you, you can’t win the White House without winning Ohio. If we have a candidate that comes into Ohio who is a divider, there’s no chance they’re going to win it.”

Kasich also said plans, such as those advocated by Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), to deport the more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the country run contrary to the principles of the GOP.

“Look, it is completely ridiculous to think that we’re going to go in the neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes, split up families, and ship people back to Mexico,” he said.

“It’s not going to happen. The party is not for deporting 11.5 million people,” he added. “I’m sorry, I don’t believe it.”

Kasich said he would offer undocumented immigrants a pathway to legalization if they have not committed any other crimes in the U.S.

“I said finish the border, have a guest worker program, and for the 11.5 million that are here, if they haven’t violated another law when they’ve been here, then they get a path to legalization, and they’ve got to pay a fine,” he said.