Deegan stands by comment on 'concentration camps,' but regrets causing pain

Mayor Donna Deegan says she regrets any pain she caused by suggesting that Donald Trump wants to create "concentration camps" to deport illegal immigrants. But the mayor said Friday that she has no regrets about decrying the mistreatment of immigrants.

"Anyone who knows me, has listened to me speak, or watched my actions, knows I would never diminish the unique awfulness and horror that was the Holocaust," Deegan said in a statement from London, where she is part of a trade delegation during the Jacksonville Jaguars' two NFL games.

"However, I have no regret about calling out the inhumanity of treating immigrants, or any person, as less than human," her statement said. "The inevitable human rights violations that would result from rounding up people for mass deportation is unthinkable and un-American.

"I work hard every day to build unity in our city, and I want the same for our country. Let's take this opportunity to learn from each other and continue to build a city where everyone is valued, seen and heard."

Republicans chastised Deegan this week after she made comments about Trump in an interview with Times Radio in the United Kingdom.

According to CNN , Trump said recently that 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."

Deegan told Times Radio interviewer John Pienaar on Tuesday 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."

Republicans blast Deegan

Republican City Council members, as well as former President Donald Trump, immediately blasted the Democrat Deegan for the statements. Local Republicans called for her to apologize.

City Council member Mike Gay, for example, issued a statement Wednesday saying he was "insulted, disappointed and embarrassed" by the mayor's comments.

"My wife is the great-granddaughter of a concentration camp survivor," he said. "Concentration camps were utilized by Nazis to brutally torture and murder 'innocent' human beings who had not committed any crime. This is in stark contrast to mass deportation of the millions of individuals that knowingly and willfully crossed our border illegally."

Sheriff T.K. Waters also demanded an apology, saying "it is disappointing to see our mayor equate a common sense immigration policy with one of the most horrific atrocities of the 20th century."

Trump campaign Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement saying Deegan's comments were "the same type of dangerous rhetoric that led to two assassination attempts on President Trump's life and has divided our country. This no-name mayor should resign in disgrace over this egregious comment."

Deegan responded to the Republicans' criticism Wednesday in a statement to Jacksonville Today .

"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."

The Duval County Democratic Party came to Deegan's defense, saying she confronted Trump's "alarming rhetoric about immigrants and his immigration policies."

"When a former American president states that immigrants 'poison the blood of our country,' a phrase eerily reminiscent of Hitler's own words, we cannot look away," the party said in a statement.

"Reasonable people understand where Mayor Deegan's heart lies," Duval Democratic Chair Daniel Henry said in the statement. "The criticism we're seeing from Republican leaders is disingenuous."

"Don't be fooled," the statement said. "Republican leaders are gaslighting the public with manufactured outrage. While they attack Mayor Deegan with cheap political points, they simultaneously embrace their party's nominee and his indefensible discriminatory policies."