Donna Deegan says Donald Trump would put undocumented immigrants into ‘concentration camps.’ Republicans are outraged.

Jacksonville’s Democratic Mayor is making news during her taxpayer-funded trade mission to the United Kingdom, and upsetting local and statewide Republicans along the way.

During an interview with Times Radio in London, Mayor Donna Deegan suggested that former President Donald Trump would implement “concentration camps” for undocumented immigrants, essentially putting “people in what would really amount to a concentration camp-type situation to round them out of the country.”

Deegan added that “doesn’t seem to me to be a very American thing to do.”

When the host accused her of using loaded language, Deegan didn’t back down.

“What would we call them? If you’re rounding people up and putting them in camps?” Deegan responded. “What would we call those? It’s a concentration of people that are in a camp. I’m not suggesting anything beyond that, but I just think it seems rather inhumane to me.”

She went on to double down on the Trump denunciation, saying “human rights abuses” would be “inevitable.”

“When you flat out call a group of human beings animals and say they are poisoning the blood of our country, then promise to round them up in detention camps, what would lead anyone to believe that they would be treated humanely?”

Deegan is not the first to make such a suggestion about the former President’s border intentions. But she may be the first Mayor of a major city to do so while overseas on a trade mission, this one associated with the 1-5 Jacksonville Jaguars’ “home” games in England.

Scientific American floated the idea of Trump’s deportation plan echoing “past rhetoric that led to civilian detention camps,” taking issue with the former President’s argument that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” domestically.

The Center for Immigration Studies on the Right argues, meanwhile, that Trump’s proposals echo back to previous plans workshopped by the Congressional Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The conservative Cato Institute offers its own take on Trump’s immigration policies while in office, arguing that he reduced legal immigration but kept levels of illegal immigration roughly the same as they were under Barack Obama.

Additionally, the Washington Post argued that while Obama built cages at the border amid a 2014 influx of illegal immigrants, Trump accelerated the policy of migrant family separation, with up to 1,500 children separated from parents. Trump has since claimed that 325,000 unaccompanied minors are unaccounted for, numbers the Center for Immigration Studies attributes to an independent Inspector General’s report.

Whatever the case, Deegan is making news beyond her stated goal of economic development for the Bold New City of the South on her British trip.

Deegan is backing Vice President Kamala Harris in November, and appeared with Harris on occasions when she came to Jacksonville for speeches.

Now, with less than three weeks before the election, she is making arguments on a global stage boosting her friend and ally, which is not lost on GOP City Councilmen who says Deegan is omitting key facts.

“Looking forward to (Deegan) calling out her buddy ‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris for jailing children in cages. I’ll wait,” Rory Diamond posted to X Wednesday.

Ron Salem, meanwhile, says that “the phrase concentration camp has one meaning,” referring to “some of the darkest days in our world’s history.”

“Comparing illegal immigration policies to the mass annihilation of our Jewish brothers and sisters is grossly inappropriate and should be apologized for,” the former Council President said.

Sheriff TK Waters, in an extended statement, condemned the Mayor’s position as well.

“Mayor Deegan’s statement to The Times (London) regarding President Trump’s border and immigration policy is shocking and reckless,” Waters said, blasting the equation of “a commonsense immigration policy with one of the most horrific atrocities of the 20th century.”

“Here are the facts: Kamala Harris, who Deegan supports, has allowed a wide-open border and millions of illegal crossings. Along with a surge of violent criminals, fentanyl has poured into our country and poisoned our communities .This year alone, our officers have seized nearly 15 kilograms of fentanyl, enough to kill over 7 Million Americans and since Harris took office, JSO officers have responded to 970 fentanyl related deaths. Something must be done,” Waters added.

“Only President Donald J. Trump can secure our border and restore safety, security, and economic prosperity to the American people. The people of Jacksonville expect more from our Mayor than knee-jerk responses about President Trump’s policies. It is downright shameful.”

The Republican Party of Florida backs Waters also, saying Deegan’s comments “were completely reprehensible.”

“Under Harris-Biden, every town is a border town and is impacted by a wide open border. We join with Sheriff Waters in condemning the Mayor’s dangerous rhetoric,” they posted to social media. 

People high up in previous mayoral administrations, both Republican and Democrat, are also condemning the Mayor’s remarks. Whether they do so on record remains to be seen.