DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement: 

“Once again, it is clear that the MAGA 2024 field takes their marching orders from their de facto leader, Donald Trump. From supporting mass deportations and detention camps to pushing to divert funding from our military, MAGA Republicans are in lockstep behind Donald Trump’s cruel immigration agenda. Make no mistake, MAGA Republicans are all in on Trump’s shameful tactic of using families to score cheap political points with the most extreme parts of their base. They are making the wrong bet – the American people rejected MAGA cruelty in 2020 and they will do it again in 2024.”

Donald Trump wants to divert funding for our nation’s military in order to pay for his reckless immigration policies, including detention camps to hold immigrants that could enable the government to speed up mass deportations. 

New York Times: “To ease the strain on ICE detention facilities, Mr. Trump wants to build huge camps to detain people while their cases are processed and they await deportation flights. And to get around any refusal by Congress to appropriate the necessary funds, Mr. Trump would redirect money in the military budget, as he did in his first term to spend more on a border wall than Congress had authorized.”

New York Times: “Such camps could also enable the government to speed up the pace and volume of deportations of undocumented people who have lived in the United States for years and so are not subject to fast-track removal.”

Under Trump’s watch, billions in military funding was used for his disastrous immigration enforcement policies instead. 

NPR: “Trump Administration Diverts $3.8 Billion In Pentagon Funding To Border Wall”

NPR: “The Trump administration has notified Congress that it plans to divert $3.8 billion from the Defense Department’s budget to build the border wall. This is in addition to more than $11 billion that’s already been identified to construct more than 500 miles of new barriers along the southern U.S. border with Mexico. That includes money that Congress has appropriated and funding that was previously diverted from military construction and counternarcotic operations.”

Ron DeSantis is trying to out-MAGA Trump and has promised to go even further in his plans for cruel and reckless mass deportations. 

DeSantis: “The sanction is you get deported. So we’re going to do it. We’ll start with the more recent arrivals and work our way back. But it’s going to be a big program similar to what Eisenhower did in the 1950s. And I’m really the only candidate that you can trust to do it. I mean, I know Donald Trump’s promising it, but he said the same thing in 2016 and didn’t deliver on it. A lot of the other Republicans, as you rightfully point out, they’re uncomfortable even talking about doing that. But we’re never going to solve the problem unless we have the rule of law prevail.”

Mediaite: “DeSantis was dismissive of Trump’s recent pledge to ‘carry out the largest wave of mass deportations in U.S. history,’ telling Melugin that ‘he [Trump] said that in 2016 as well and then didn’t do it.’ ‘I mean, they had some but they didn’t have anything out of the ordinary,’ continued DeSantis. ‘I think we would be much more assertive than he was in his first administration.’”

Nikki Haley’s campaigning on a MAGA agenda of building on Trump’s legacy of the mass deportation of migrants. 

New York Times: “With her call to ‘send them back,’ [Haley] embraces a position that Mr. DeSantis took in early October regarding undocumented immigrants who have entered during Mr. Biden’s presidency. Mr. Trump has also pledged to enact mass deportations.”

Haley: “OK, of the six to seven million that have come over since Biden did this — this is going to sound harsh — but you send them back. And the reason you send them back, the reason you send them back is because, my parents, they came here legally. They put in the time, they put in the price. I take care of my parents. They live with us. They’re 87 and 89. There’s not a time I’ve had dinner with my mom when she doesn’t say, ‘Are those people still crossing the border?’ And the reason is, they are offended by what’s happening on the border. And when you allow those six or seven million to come, to all those people who’ve done it the right way, you’re letting them jump the line.’”

Vivek Ramaswamy has even called to mass deport entire families. 

Ramaswamy: “So my view is, the first distinction we have to draw is those who enter the country legally, vs. illegally—and that we’re talking about illegal migrants here.  First step is seal the southern border, and the northern border. Use the military to actually close the border. For the people who are already here, I believe in as humane and respectful of a manner as possible, they must be returned to their country of origin.”

Interviewer: “You said you want to deport the children of illegal immigrants.”

Ramaswamy: “I said the entire family unit.” 

Interviewer: “You said you want to deport the entire family unit of undocumented immigrants.” 

Ramaswamy: “Yes, entire family unit.”

Chris Christie has likened his extreme MAGA immigration policy to tracking FedEx packages.

New York Times: “Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Saturday that if he were elected president he would combat illegal immigration by creating a system to track foreign visitors the way FedEx tracks packages. Mr. Christie, who is far back in the pack of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, said at a campaign event in New Hampshire that he would ask the chief executive of FedEx, Frederick W. Smith, to devise the tracking system.”

Trump’s MAGA minions in the halls of Congress supported Trump’s plans in 2019 to divert military funds for his reckless immigration policy. 

Politico: “Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is up for reelection in 2020 and whose state will see military money diverted for the wall, said he’s confident that the money for those projects will be restocked. ‘I’m willing to divert funding for the wall since we couldn’t get a legislative outcome we can deal with these projects later in the next budget cycle,’ Graham said. ‘But I’m willing to divert the funding and absorb some pain to get the wall moving forward.’”

CNBC: “Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will not try to block Trump’s executive action. In a statement Friday, McConnell appeared to blame Democrats for forcing Trump’s hand by denying him the money he demanded for the wall. The border security deal came out of a conference committee with lawmakers from both parties and chambers. ‘President Trump’s decision to announce emergency action is the predictable and understandable consequence of Democrats’ decision to put partisan obstruction ahead of the national interest,’ he said. On Thursday, McCarthy said ‘we face a humanitarian and national security crisis at the border that must be addressed.’”