Rep. Tom Emmer on Sunday defended President Donald Trump and his administration's handling of the deportation case involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia and other moves that have been made since his election.
“I think right now what he’s doing is absolutely legal, which is removing those that do not have legal status in this country, that have proven to be the worst of the worst," Emmer told CNN's "State of the Union." "This is what he promised Americans he would do.”
The issue, he said, is that Trump wants to protect U.S. citizens from criminals, versus Democrats, "who seem to want to protect illegal aliens in this country for whatever reason."
He also slammed Sen. Chris Van Hollen for his trip to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia.
"The senator literally doesn't do anything for his constituent who was murdered mercilessly by an illegal alien let in under the Biden administration's open border policy," Emmer said. "But when an illegal alien gets deported to his country of origin, he flies right down."
Meanwhile, when anchor Dana Bash repeatedly pressed Emmer on comments Trump made about deporting "homegrowns," or U.S. criminals for certain crimes, the congressman continued to praise the administration's policies but did not address the question specifically.
Trump, while meeting last week at the Oval Office with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, commented that he doesn't know what the laws are about deporting citizens, "but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters.
"I’d like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country, but you’ll have to be looking at the laws on that."
"What they’re focused on, and what you and I are focusing on, is what’s actually happening, which is deporting terrorists, cartel members, rapists, murderers," Emmer said. "The worst of the worst is exactly what Donald Trump promised during the campaign, and that’s why 77 million people, Dana, elected him to follow through on this promise, and that’s what they are doing."
Bash asked him again if he would back deporting citizens, but he told her that the issue is that Trump "wants to protect U.S. citizens from violence, from crime, having their children solicited, murdered."