Some Republicans try to tone down Trump's mass deportation threats

Members of the GOP in immigrant-heavy states tried to reassure constituents that Trump is focused on dangerous criminals and not on "hard-working" immigrants.

As President-elect Donald Trump doubles down on his mass deportation plan, some Republicans are trying to assuage fears amid growing questions of who will be forced out of the country.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News on Wednesday, Trump said, “It’s not a question of a price tag, we have no choice ... When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here.”

But in prior interviews and on the campaign trail, Trump and others have not targeted the deportations to just those who have committed violent crimes.

In an April interview with Time magazine, he said his mass deportations would "start with the criminals that are coming in" and added he may deploy the military for an "invasion" of what he said was already 15 million immigrants — and could be 20 million — by the end of President Joe Biden's term.

The prospect of mass deportations is generating fear and apprehension among families with noncitizen members and businesses that employ undocumented workers.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/republicans-try-tone-trumps-mass-deportation-threats-rcna179326

---