Trump Backer on CNN: 'He's Fighting Our Fights' as Immigration Debate Heats Up

President Donald Trump’s approach to immigration is striking a chord with his base, as highlighted by a vocal supporter on CNN. Author Batya Ungar-Sargon appeared on CNN’s "NewsNight with Abby Phillip" Thursday, delivering an enthusiastic endorsement of Trump’s record on everything from Wall Street to crime and, most notably, deportations of illegal immigrants.

"It would have been enough if Trump had only taken on Wall Street," Ungar-Sargon said. "It would have been enough if he had only taken on the gangbangers. It would have been enough if he had only started reshoring manufacturing, if he had only gotten rid of this guy who beat his woman—his wife up, which, by the way, is a deportable offense. And yet he’s done all of these things."

The "guy who beat his woman" is a pointed reference to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a suspected MS-13 gang member and undocumented immigrant, recently deported from Maryland to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center. Garcia’s legal and personal history is anything but clean: a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations report linked him to a potential human trafficking incident in Tennessee, and court documents from 2021 show his wife detailed repeated abuse and feared for her safety, with evidence of bruises and violence.

While Garcia now sits in a Salvadoran prison, Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., actually traveled to El Salvador to meet him—an eyebrow-raising move that has inspired plenty of reactions. After the meeting, Van Hollen reported reaching out to Garcia’s wife to share a message from him, promising a full update upon his return. Honestly, a U.S. senator flying to another country to visit a deported alleged gang member? That’s not something you see every day.

Trump, never one to hold back, responded by calling Van Hollen a "fool" for the visit, making it clear where he stands on the matter.

Public opinion appears to be shifting even more decisively toward Trump’s stance. Quoting a new CNN poll, Ungar-Sargon highlighted that 56% of Americans now support deporting all 11 million undocumented immigrants, up from 38% in 2016. "Trump is winning this, and he’s winning it because people feel like he is fighting for them. The real emergency is that the American people are getting what they want," she said. Whether you agree or not, it’s clear the immigration debate is running hotter than ever.