Jacksonville mayor says she regrets if choice of words on London radio ‘caused anyone pain’

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan released another statement Friday attempting to clarify comments she made in a London radio interview last week that set off a firestorm of backlash.

During the interview earlier this week on Times Radio, Deegan compared Donald Trump’s proposed immigration plans to concentration camps.

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Several local officials have called on the mayor to apologize for the “concentration camp” comparison.

On Friday, Deegan released the following statement:

“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. That was not my intention. I regret that my choice of words may have caused anyone pain.

“However, I have no regret about calling out the inhumanity of treating immigrants, or any person, as less than human. 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.”

During her London radio interview, Deegan said, “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.”

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Her comments followed the former president’s statement in Colorado last week when he said, “We will 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.“

In a statement Wednesday to Action News Jax, Deegan doubled down on her comments saying:

“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 the up in detention camps, what would lead anyone to believe they’d be treated humanely? The inevitable human rights abuses that would come are un-American and go against our country’s values.”

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