Mass Deportation Signs at RNC ‘Disturbing,’ ‘Unity Sort of Went out the Window’ 

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” NBC News political and national correspondent Jacob Soboroff said it was “disturbing” to see people holding signs supporting mass deportations at the Republican National Convention, adding, “The idea that these divisive, polarizing figures and issues wouldn’t be brought to the forefront during President Trump’s first term in office after a horrific assassination attempt was not a reality here or on the scene at the arena last night.”

Soboroff said:[U]Unity has gone out the window, and I can think of no issue that epitomizes that tone more than the way immigration was addressed last night. I could give many examples, but perhaps the first and most surprising, but not unexpected, was the campaign itself, when the Republican National Committee, in support of their party platform, said, “The public is [Deportation] “So, then … being in the audience and seeing thousands of people holding up these signs was frankly disturbing and worrying.”

He continued: “This is part of the Republican National Committee’s platform for the largest deportation in American history. It’s reminiscent of the Bracero Program, which brought in Mexican guest workers in the 1950s. Then the Eisenhower administration deported a million Mexicans, actually some Mexican-Americans, in 1954, which was the largest deportation in American history at the time. Donald Trump wants to go far beyond that. There are 10 million, 11 million, some estimates say even more, illegal aliens in this country who have been here for many years. The idea that we’re celebrating this was not only expressed in these placards and signs, but also in last night’s keynote speaker, Tom Homan, who, I just want to remind you, was the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), first under the Obama administration and then under the Trump administration.” During the Obama administration, he advocated for a family separation policy, but it was summarily rejected by then-Secretary of Homeland Security Jay Johnson. Of course, with Stephen Miller in power, along with other Trump administration officials, the proposal was ultimately adopted. … Stephen Miller was walking around the stage with Donald Trump yesterday in a walk-through of the speech that will be delivered tonight. So the idea that these divisive, polarizing figures and issues from President Trump’s first term in office would not come to the fore after a horrific assassination attempt was not a reality here or in the arena last night.”