Republican leaders are blasting Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan for suggesting, in a British interview, that Donald Trump wants to create “concentration camps” to deport illegal immigrants.

Several Republican City Council members demanded that Deegan apologize, and Sheriff T. K. Waters, also a Republican, called Deegan’s comments on Times Radio “shocking and reckless.”

According to CNN, Trump said he wants to send “elite squads of ICE border patrol and federal law enforcement officers to hunt down, arrest and deport every last illegal alien gang member until there is not a single one left in this country.“ The comment was made while the former president was in Colorado.

In an interview Tuesday, Deegan, a Democrat, told interviewer John Pienaar that Trump’s proposal “doesn’t seem to me to be a very American thing to do.”

“I would hope that people would say ‘Yes, we absolutely must fix the broken immigration system — pass a tough border law,'” Deegan said. “But to put people in what would really amount to a concentration camp-type situation, to round them out of the country, doesn’t seem to me to be a very American thing to do.”

Republican City Councilman Ron Salem released a statement Wednesday saying that “words matter” and demanding that Deegan apologize for equating Trump’s plan with Nazi death camps.

“In my home and all over the globe, the phrase concentration camp has one meaning,” Salem wrote. “Some of the darkest days in our world’s history that will plague history books for centuries. Comparing illegal immigration policies to the mass annihilation of our Jewish brothers and sisters is grossly inappropriate and should be apologized for.”

Waters said: “As the sheriff of Jacksonville, it is disappointing to see our mayor equate a common sense 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.”

Deegan is in London as part of a delegation on trade during the Jacksonville Jaguars’ two NFL road games, one this past Sunday and another this coming weekend. She joined Jaguars owner Shad Khan after NFL team owners unanimously approved a renovation deal for EverBank Stadium.

Questions about ‘concentration camps’

On Times Radio, interviewer Pienaar said that U.S. opinion polls suggest that most Americans do support mass deportations. A third of Jacksonville’s population is Black, with Latinos as well, he noted.

“And some of those demographics support this policy too,” Pienaar said.

“I haven’t seen any poll, especially in my area, that indicates most people would be for mass deportation,” Deegan responded. “So if that is something that you have seen, I haven’t seen it myself.”

Pienaar then suggested that across America, “a very large slice of people” do support that policy, as well as some in Jacksonville. Deegan responded that she was sure that some people would support the idea but she felt Jacksonville and Americans as a whole are “a community and nation of immigrants.”

Responding to her use of the term “concentration camp,” Pienaar suggested the phrase was pejorative.

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

Sheriff Waters’ reaction included statements that his officers this year have seized nearly 15 kilograms of fentanyl, enough to kill more than 7 million people. Since Harris took office, Waters added, Jacksonville officers have responded to 970 fentanyl-related deaths.

Something must be done, Waters said. Only Trump can “secure our border and restore safety, security and economic prosperity to the American people,” he said.

“The people of Jacksonville expect more from our mayor than knee-jerk responses about President Trump’s policies,” Waters said. “It is downright shameful.”

City Council response

City Council member Terrence Freeman posted on X that he agreeed with Waters.

“Mayor Deegan’s comments are deeply troubling,” Freeman wrote. “Lying about President Trump’s policies, particularly while representing Jacksonville overseas on a taxpayer-funded trip, is incredibly disappointing.”

City Council member Rory Diamond called Waters’ comments “well said” and also called on Deegan to apologize.

But after seeing comments by his Republican counterparts, City Council member Jimmy Peluso posted on X that “it’s fake outrage day in Jax!”

“Our mayor answered a question truthfully; Trump’s immigration plan feels like Japanese internment & local Rs claim it’s a good idea,” Peluso wrote.

Deegan sent a response to Jacksonville Today when asked about the demands for apologies.

“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 they’d be treated humanely?” Deegan wrote. “The inevitable human rights abuses that would come are un-American and go against our country’s values.”