A prominent Democratic strategist left a CNN panel speechless after wildly suggesting the US military could open fire on Americans who try to prevent President-elect Donald Trump’s deportation of illegal migrants.
Julie Roginsky made the claim on CNN’s “NewsNight” late Monday — just hours after Trump confirmed he would utilize “military assets” to help boot illegal migrants from the US after he returns to the White House early next year.
“I promise you with every fiber of my being, because I’ll probably be one of those people, that if anyone comes for these people and tries to drag them out by force, there will be protests,” said Roginsky, who is co-founder of Lift Our Voices, a nonprofit group advocating for workers’ rights.
Roginsky then doubled down, claiming US citizens would “prevent these little kids from being dragged out of these shelters.”
“What is going to happen to these people? What is going to happen to the military when the military opens fire on us?” she said.
Fellow panelist Scott Jennings looked shocked before quickly jumping in, saying: “No one is … we’re way down a rabbit hole here.”
Elsewhere during the panel discussion, Roginsky had suggested the only migrants who would be targeted under Trump’s looming directives would be “women and children” — and dismissed the possibility that criminals or terrorists could be among those pouring across the border.
“Stop, how do you know who it is?” Roginsky fired off after a fellow panelist questioned whether criminals were being let in unvetted.
“I’m sorry, I live next to these people. I can tell you, they are women and children. Are there terrorists among them? I don’t know,” she added.
“But I can tell you … what I’m telling you right now, practically speaking, there will be American citizens who will prevent these little kids from being dragged out of these shelters.”
Trump had confirmed earlier in a Truth Social post that he would declare a “national emergency” in a bid to fulfill his promise of enacting the largest deportation in history to get a handle on the US border crisis.
“TRUE!!!” Trump responded to a post from Judicial Watch chief Tom Fitton expressing hope that the president-elect would do so.
“GOOD NEWS: Reports are the incoming @RealDonaldTrump administration prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program,” Fitton wrote on the social media platform.
The Post reached out to Trump’s team over the CNN remarks but didn’t hear back immediately.
