After the interview, Stewart took to Facebook and called out fellow gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie. "Another interview about illegals. Never going to back down. Establishment Republicans like Ed Gillespie want us to back down, but we need to start standing up for ourselves. Standing up for our families. Standing up for America."
Another interview about illegals. Never going to back down. Establishment Republicans like Ed Gillespie want us to back down, but we need to start standing up for ourselves. Standing up for our families. Standing up for America.
When it comes to illegal immigration, the Republican establishment is no different than the Democrat establishment. They don't want to "offend" anyone. When Ed Gillespie was Chief Counsel in George Bush's White House, we tried to get him order the deportations of the illegals we were sending them. Not only did they refuse, but they lied about it, and would not disclose to us what they did with the 7,500 illegals we handed them. We found out later that the illegals, many of whom had committed serious violent crimes, were released to repeat crimes against our families. That's harsh. Harsh on law abiding citizens. Harsh on our families. Harsh on America.
Trump Va. chairman Corey Stewart on illegals: 'We will kick their asses out of the country'
Richmond Times-Dispatch
By Jim Nolan
Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors and Donald Trump's Virginia campaign chairman, doubled down on the billionaire Republican presidential candidate's confrontational stance on undocumented immigrants in a Facebook posting that addressed the egging of a Trump supporter at a rally last week in San Jose, Calif.
"Time to put our foot down," Stewart wrote in a posting to his Facebook page at 6:41 a.m. Friday that was accompanied by a picture of a woman who had been hit by an egg in a confrontation outside a Trump rally at the San Jose Convention Center.
"These hoodlums attacked Trump supporters because they don't like our views.
Trump supporters could have been you or your family," said Stewart, who also is a GOP candidate for governor in 2017. "Are we going to tolerate this? If you tolerate thuggery, you will get more of it.
"When I am governor, thugs like these will be apprehended," Stewart wrote. "And if they are illegal, we will kick their asses out of the country, just like we did in Prince William County."
In an interview Monday, Stewart did not back down, saying he was angry at what happened in California and angry at the mayor, Sam Liccardo, who initially blamed Trump's rhetoric for inciting the protestors but later condemned the violent outburst, saying, “Nothing that Donald Trump says absolves those individuals of responsibility for their violent conduct.”
Stewart seized on the event to revisit the immigration issue in Virginia, where he claimed that since 2007, Prince William has handed over some 7,500 illegal immigrants to federal authorities
"We are going to impose the toughest crackdown on illegal immigrants anywhere," he said, just a few days ahead of an expected fundraising visit by Trump to the Richmond area on Friday.
Trump, who owns a golf course and winery in Virginia, would likely need to win this swing state to secure the White House over presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State. According to recent polls, Clinton leads Trump in the commonwealth.
"One of the reasons Trump chose me to be chairman is because of my aggressive stance on illegal immigration," Stewart said, charging that neither Democratic President Barack Obama, nor his predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, did enough to address the issue.
"We are heading into another recession...people here illegally are taking jobs from citizens who should have them," said Stewart. "When he is president and I am governor, you're going to see one helluva tag team in Virginia and we're finally going to remove illegal immigrants."
Stewart's positions brought a rebuke from Virginia Democrats, who called on Republican leaders to condemn remarks by Trump and Stewart.
"Virginia's economy is stronger because of our commonwealth's diversity," said Democratic Party of Virginia spokeswoman Emily Bolton. "It's shocking that Virginia Republicans continue to be silent on the racist remarks of Donald Trump and Corey Stewart."
Over the course of his campaign, Trump has articulated a number of positions on immigration and ethnic and religious groups that have startled both Democrats and Republicans alike.
He has said he would build a "beautiful" wall on the Mexico U.S. border to keep out illegals -- a wall for which he promised Mexico would pay. In the wake of the San Bernadino, California shootings by a Muslin couple, he advocated a ban on all Muslim immigration.
Most recently, he questioned the fairness of a federal judge hearing the case brought against him by former students of his for-profit Trump University, implying that the Indiana-born jurist's Hispanic background biased him against Trump's case.
The remarks about Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel were widely condemned by Democrats who called them racist and by many Republicans, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who called them disqualifying for someone seeking the presidency.
Virginia Republicans will decide their 2017 gubernatorial nominee at a convention next year. In addition Stewart, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie and Rep. Robert J. Wittman, R-1st, have announced their intentions to seek the nomination.
Stewart expects Trump to make many stops in Virginia between now and the general election in November, saying Virginia is the "toughest nut" of three swing states, including Ohio and Florida, that the GOP nominee needs to crack in order to win.
"Virginia is likely to be the most critical state in the election," he said.