The real question is not why President Donald Trump wants to know about non-citizens living in the United States, but why Democrats "don't seem to care about it," White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said Friday.
"The American people have the right to know this," Gidley told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "It impacts so much about this country. These people are coming into our country. They are not citizens of the great United States of America, and it impacts our neighborhoods [and] healthcare system."
Trump on Thursday said he opted to enact an order to gather information about non-citizens through government data, not a citizenship question on the upcoming census, and Gidley said by doing so he's continuing to follow through on a promise.
"He is looking at all options within our legal authority to find out this data," Gidley said. "This impacts trillions of dollars in this country. He is doing it in a manner that is completely lawful and legal. We have to find out information, so he's going across the spectrum to all of the agencies, every little nook and cranny to figure out who our citizens are."
That does not mean Trump backed down on the citizenship question, Gidley insisted, but it would have been impossible to get the question on the census in time for it to be printed.
Meanwhile, Gidley defended ICE raids reportedly planned for this weekend, without directly confirming when they would take place. Trump later in the morning confirmed the raids would start on Sunday.
"I think the American people would be shocked to find out there are more than 1 million people who have gone through the legal judicial process, had their day in court, and judges have ordered them removed," said Gidley.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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