GOP Congressman Warns Trump on Mass Deportations

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), whose Congressional District includes “the largest stretch of southern border territory” of any in the U.S., sent a warning to Donald Trump that the plan to deport undocumented migrants has to have positive messaging in order to get Americans on board.

“If the message is, ‘We’re here to deport your abuelita,’ that’s not going to work well,” Gonzales told This Week’s Martha Raddatz, using the Spanish word for grandmother. “It has to be one of holding these hardened criminals accountable.”

“But, that is the message from the Trump administration!” Raddatz exclaimed. “They are doing mass deportations. ‘Pack your bags!’ You heard Tom Holman say that.”

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Gonzales responded, “No, I don’t exactly see it the exact same way. Months ago I reached out to ICE, and I asked for empirical data on how many convicted criminals are in our country. The number is hundreds of thousands.”

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