White House Says Deportation Policy Remains the Same in Response to Report of Messaging Shift

WASHINGTON—The White House has responded to reporting on its immigration messaging, stating that nothing substantial has changed in its immigration enforcement agenda. Axios reported on March 10 that White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair told House Republicans at a retreat in Florida to speak more about the removal of illegal immigrants who are violent criminals and less about mass deportations. When asked about the report, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Epoch Times in a March 10 email that “nobody is changing the administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.” “President [Donald] Trump’s highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities,” Jackson said, noting that DHS’s data show a large percentage of its recent deportees have criminal records....