Deportations Must Focus On Criminals, Says GOP Congressman Tony Gonzales

Bruce Haring
·1-min read

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) says on-point messaging is the only way to sell the incoming administration’s announced plans for massive deportations of illegal immigrants, he told Martha Raddatz on ABC News’ “This Week.”

Gonzales’ congressional district includes the largest stretch of southern border territory in the U.S.

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

Recent bellicose statements have come from Tom Homan, Trump’s pick for “border czar” in his upcoming administration and a former acting ICE director. Trump himself has promised the largest deportation plan in U.S. history.

“Now, they have said that they’ll deport criminals first, but they’ve already said, everyone else — there are 11 to 13 million undocumented workers in this country,” Raddatz said. “So, how does this work? How do you convince them to let people who are picking fruit, stay?”

Gonzales said he didn’t see that happening.

“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.”

“More than 600,000,” Raddatz added.

“It’s absolutely mind boggling,” Gonzales said.

Raddatz asked, “So how do you even round them up? How do you have the man power to even do that?”

“That’s where we need to focus,” Gonzales said. “I’m talking about the convicted criminal aliens, that keeps all Americans safe.”

The post Deportations Must Focus On Criminals, Says GOP Congressman Tony Gonzales appeared first on TheWrap.

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