Deporting violent criminal illegal migrants is much more than a campaign promise, it is vital to the success of the country as a whole, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley told Newsmax on Monday.
The RNC head told "Wake Up America" that "President Trump is going to follow the mandate that he won in 2024 and we are going to remove violent criminal illegal aliens from this country."
He added that "removing them from the United States ... is not just an election mandate. This is about our kids, this is about our communities, this is about our families. This is about our economy. The president has been very clear ... that this is a priority for all of America."
Whatley stressed that it is disappointing that Democrats "are doubling down on the fact that this is the culmination of [their wrongheaded] immigration policies" by allowing so many illegal migrants into the country.
He emphasized that Trump was elected on a mandate ... violent criminal illegal aliens being in the United States was a huge part of this, and he said very clearly we are going to deport these people who should not be in the United States.
Asked about the prospects of Trump's "big beautiful bill" being passed by the self-declared July 4 deadline, Whatley conceded that it may take into August to get it complete, "but the fact is that this is the American First agenda ... in one bill. You look at every single aspect of what President Trump ran on, it is embodied in this bill and we need to get this done."
Commenting on the feud between Elon Musk and Trump, Whatley said that "it is very disappointing. Obviously Elon had a lot of contributions that he made to the campaign and he made in terms of helping us set up the DOGE process, but the fact is there is one president."
Whatley stressed that "there is no excuse whatsoever for what we saw on social media last week. The fact is that we are going to get this big beautiful bill done. The American people voted on it and Congress needs to stay focused" on getting the bill passed.
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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