President Donald Trump鈥檚 high-profile immigration raids have sparked protests across the country and prompted even some Republicans to
During an interview Thursday on the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, Missouri U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt said Trump is carrying out a campaign promise to deport people who are in the country without legal status. He said that critics of the president are being inconsistent, pointing to how Democratic presidents like
鈥淒o I believe that we should enforce federal law to deport illegal immigrants on a massive scale? I do,鈥� Schmitt said. 鈥淎nd President Trump ran on this. This is not a surprise. This was put squarely in front of the American voters last November. There were two big issues. There was immigration, and there was inflation, right? And so President Trump was very clear, we are going to deport the 15 million people here illegally. We're going to start with the worst of the worst, but we're actually going to enforce federal law. And if you don't enforce it, the law really doesn't mean much.鈥�
There are some federal laws, though, that Trump isn鈥檛 actively enforcing. For instance, his Drug Enforcement Administration 鈥� even though that . And Trump is , even though that social media platform
But when presented with those two examples of how Trump isn鈥檛 actively enforcing federal laws, Schmitt didn鈥檛 find either instance compelling.
鈥淵ou didn't have the president of the United States running on the two issues that you mentioned,鈥� Schmitt said. 鈥淓lections have consequences, as many people have said. And one of the consequences here is we have a president that's going to enforce immigration laws, and that's just going to be the reality that's not going to change.鈥�
Schmitt also said he supported Trump taking control of the California National Guard . A district judge ruled that Trump illegally commandeered the Guard, but an appeals court stayed that ruling.
鈥淚CE agents are being attacked,鈥� Schmitt said. 鈥淲hen that happens, the president of the United States has the ability to protect those assets and people. And that's what's at stake here.鈥�
Monitoring the 鈥楤ig Beautiful Bill鈥�
Schmitt doesn鈥檛 think Trump鈥檚 falling out with Elon Musk will hurt prospects to pass the budget legislation known as the Big Beautiful Bill. It contains an array of tax cuts, immigration-related measures and raising the debt ceiling.
Musk, who spent several hundred million dollars to get Trump elected, lambasted the legislation amid estimates that it will balloon the national debt. Musk鈥檚 criticism 鈥� a stark change from the
Schmitt said Musk is 鈥渧ery sincere in his efforts to find real savings, structural savings.鈥�
鈥淚 think he cares about the skyrocketing national debt, and those are concerns that I share, too,鈥� Schmitt said. 鈥淎nd I think that we're going to have a chance as that House bill, the Big, Beautiful Bill, made its way over to the Senate, now we want to make it more beautiful.鈥�
One potential sticking point is how the final version of the legislation affects Medicaid. While the House version didn鈥檛 end up lowering the federal share of funds that pay for Medicaid expansion in states like Missouri, critics of the legislation contend
During a call with reporters on Friday, Schmitt鈥檚 Missouri colleague, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, reiterated that the final version of the bill can鈥檛 cut benefits to Medicaid recipients. The Republican senator is in favor of , an idea that generally has less opposition among GOP federal lawmakers.
鈥淚 would just point out it also happens to be the president's position, which is probably the most important thing in this back and forth,鈥� Hawley said. 鈥淚 mean, this is what I continue to tell my colleagues. Anybody who asks me and who's interested in this: Why don't we just listen to the guy who won the election who said that he doesn't want any Medicaid benefit cuts? He doesn't want rural hospitals to close.鈥�
Schmitt said that with the exception of keeping Medicaid out of reach for immigrants without legal status, he agrees with Hawley that he doesn鈥檛 want benefits taken away 鈥� and added he鈥檚 trying to craft safeguards for people with disabilities.
鈥淚'm actually working on a provision to help strengthen this for people who are most vulnerable, and I think that's something that we can kind of all come together on,鈥� Schmitt said.
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by , , , and . Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is .
