By The Daily Caller (U.S.) | Created at 2026-09-30 18:01:52 | Updated at 2026-09-30 19:01:26
1 hour ago
Republican West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice backtracked Wednesday after criticizing how ICE was deporting illegal aliens.
“Let me be crystal clear: I support President Trump’s immigration strategy, full stop. It’s not surprising that some are twisting my words to score political points, but there should be no confusion about where I stand,” Justice said in a press release, calling the administration’s crackdown on illegal border crossings a “tremendous achievement.” (RELATED: Republicans Scramble To Save Their Own Skin)
“Our brave ICE officers are doing an incredible job protecting our communities, and they must continue to focus on criminals who are here illegally and putting Americans in danger. Violent criminals, drug traffickers, gang members and others who threaten our communities should be identified, arrested and removed,” he added.
“West Virginians expect us to enforce the law, protect our communities, and keep dangerous criminals off our streets. That is exactly what I support.”
Justice on Tuesday had urged the Trump administration to reconsider their deportation strategy, suggesting to Politico that ICE agents have gotten “carried away in their job.”
“Before you know it, you get people that get carried away in their job and whatever it may be, and all of a sudden, then you’re dragging people away that have lived on your street corner for 15 years, and I don’t know that we need to be doing that stuff,” he said in an interview.
“To get better, the first thing you got to do is admit you’re doing something wrong,”he went on, “and in this situation, with all that’s going on and all the stuff, we probably got to step back from it and say, ‘Maybe we’re doing something wrong here or there,’ and then adjust to that.”
Earlier Wednesday, a former Trump White House official criticized Justice, pointing out that Trump won West Virginia by a massive margin in the 2024 election.
“If you complain about the federal government removing people who entered our country illegally, you’re arguing for de facto amnesty,” Pat Adams wrote on X. “Republican voters don’t want amnesty under any circumstance.”
