Gingrich warns support for Trump deportations could 'collapse'
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) warned in an interview that support for mass deportations promised after President-elect Trump takes office could “collapse.”
“Lincoln once said that with popular sentiment, anything is possible; without popular sentiment, nothing is possible,” Gingrich told The Guardian.
“Well, you get very many human stories about mothers or babies or children being deported, then support for the deportation program will collapse,” he added.
Gingrich also said that it is “nonsense to” advocate for the deportation of “somebody who came here when they were 2, only speaks English, graduated as a high school valedictorian and is currently a nurse or a doctor.”
“We’re going to deport them, and they don’t speak the language of whatever country their parents came from, and they’ve earned the right to be Americans?”
The president-elect said during an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker that aired last month that his pledge to deport millions of people in the U.S. illegally, and more broadly change the immigration system, was not idle campaign talk.
“You have no choice. First of all, they’re costing us a fortune. But we’re starting with the criminals, and we’ve got to do it. And then we’re starting with others, and we’re going to see how it goes,” Trump said.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.