Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat warned that President Donald Trump is taking things to a “chilling” new level with his latest rhetoric.
Trump on Tuesday threatened to strip U.S. citizens of their nationality and then deport them if they commit certain crimes ― including some who were born in the United States.
“They’re not new to our country. They’re old to our country. Many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here, too, if you want to know the truth,” he said during a visit to a new migrant detention facility. “So maybe that will be the next job that we’ll work on together.”
The comments echo what Trump said in April when speaking of deportations to El Salvador.
“The homegrowns are next,” Trump said during a meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
Ben-Ghiat, the author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present,” responded on X about Trump’s comments:
Trump’s latest comments came after NPR reported that the Justice Department was “aggressively prioritizing” efforts to revoke the status of naturalized citizens who commit certain crimes.
On Tuesday, he said that could include citizens born in the United States who “whack people over the head with a baseball bat from behind when they’re not looking and kill them” or “knife you when you’re walking down the street.”
However, Trump also indicated that category could be far broader, at least with naturalized U.S. citizens such as former ally Elon Musk. After his latest falling out with Musk, Trump said he said he would “take a look” at deporting the tech billionaire.
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