On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), who is also a Harris-Walz Surrogate, reacted to 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s plan to expedite the removal of gang members who are in the country illegally by stating that “if somebody commits a crime and they’re here illegally, of course, we want them deported.” And noting that due to the lack of an extradition treaty between the United States and Venezuela, people in the country illegally who are from Venezuela usually have to be held in American prisons, but, still, “if somebody who’s here illegally commits a crime, they should be out.”
Host Kaitlan Collins asked, “[H]e’s saying that he’s going to have a federal program to expedite the removal of undocumented gang members if re-elected. He says he’s going to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which, I did some digging, it’s actually only been used three times ever, all three times during times of war. Does that have any merit in your view?”
Polis answered “I don’t think anybody’s done that research into the 1780s yet. But I can tell you that if somebody commits a crime and they’re here illegally, of course, we want them deported. We don’t have an extradition treaty with Venezuela. So, generally, we have to hold them in our prisons. But of course, if somebody who’s here illegally commits a crime, they should be out.”
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