Donald Trump's 'mass deportation' demand challenged by ex-White House official - 'Americans will be harassed!'

After a US National Guard member died following the Washington DC shooting, Mr Trump pledged to carry out a tough clampdown on immigration, declaring to "permanently pause migration" to the US from all third-world countries.

In the Truth Social post, the President decried American's "refugee burden" and explicitly called for "reverse migration" or "remigration".

But, on the matter of mass deportations, Mr de Jesus dubbed Mr Trump's pledge to be merely a "temporary 'solution'" which fails to address the underlying problem.

"You cannot stop all migration from any country to the most powerful country in the world that has intervened in so many countries," the Democrat strategist candidly declared.

The President's escalation of migration policies came in the wake of the DC shooting on Wednesday, when two American soldiers were shot, one of whom has since died from her injuries.

Police arrested suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who is from Afghanistan. The US attorney for Washington DC has since confirmed he will be charged with "murder in the first degree".

Later on the day of the shooting, Mr Trump vowed to deport any foreigner "from any country who does not belong here" while Government officials paused processing all immigration requests from Afghans.

"That refugee in particular, that allegedly shot the two National Guards, was legally in the United States, and there had been a background check on that person. And so it is impossible to avoid all tragedies," Mr de Jesus said.

Instead, he pushed for a comprehensive reform of immigration policy, turning away the "bad guys" and welcoming those who will contribute to the economy.

The ex-White House official added that it was "troubling" that the US was intervening in other nations' domestic policies, citing Mr Trump's discussion on Britain's migrant crisis.

"That's not the role that the United States should play. It should be the UK that sets their own immigration policies.

"The only business the US has to tell other countries is what to do when they come into the United States, not the other way around.

"I think that the special relationship is based on mutual respect, and it's disrespectful to tell the UK Government what they're doing with their own voters and their own domestic policies."

Mr Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric has been widely lauded by his allies, but Mr de Jesus remains sceptical.

While he agrees any immigrant who harms people residing in the US ought to be deported, the strategist denounced the policies in practice.

"[The Maga campaign] was saying that they would get rid of the worst of the worst, the rapists and drug smugglers.

"But in practice, these mass deportation policies have made Americans and legal immigrants endure harassment, civil rights violations, and they have detained Americans because of the colour of their skin or the language they speak in the street.

"That wasn't getting rid of the worst of the worst. When they get rid of hard workers, nannies, people in construction, or just students that weren't harming anyone, and even Americans, again, who are being stopped, harassed and beaten up by Ice and detained without any court order.

"That concerns not just civil libertarians, but middle America."

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