U.S. Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) criticized the Trump administration on Saturday, writing on social media: “Securing the border & deporting dangerous people & folks unwilling to work are wise & popular policy positions. But we’ve now crossed into inhumane, indecent, & Un-Christian actions by some of the deportations we are doing. Here’s one case. I have many other examples. America must be better than this.”
Bacon provided a link to an op-ed he wrote for the Omaha World-Herald, in which he told the story of an Omaha-based immigrant named Mariana, who is scheduled to report for removal from the U.S. on September 18, “despite having no criminal record and years of ties to the community.”
Securing the border & deporting dangerous people & folks unwilling to work are wise & popular policy positions. But we’ve now crossed into inhumane, indecent, & Un-Christian actions by some of the deportations we are doing. Here’s one case. I have many other examples. America…
— Rep. Don Bacon
(@RepDonBacon) August 22, 2026
Jeremy Carl, a Senior Fellow at the conservative think tank Claremont Institute, where his primary focus is on immigration, multiculturalism, and nationalism in America, responded to Bacon, “You can’t fix stupid but you can force it to leave Congress.”
Bacon, who has announced that he is not running for re-election, replied to Carl: “You couldn’t get elected anywhere. Here’s the deal… two-thirds of Americans agree with me.”
You couldn’t get elected anywhere. Here’s the deal… two-thirds of Americans agree with me.
— Rep. Don Bacon
[NOTE: According to an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll in February, “after two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minnesota at the hands of federal immigration agents, 65% of Americans said Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ‘gone too far.’”]
Pro-Trump X accounts are attacking Bacon with comments including “I think it’s unchristian to replace my family and culture with foreigners,” to which the Republican congressman is replying, “You don’t read much of the Bible.”
To those who replied, “They all need to go,” Bacon suggested that they are in the minority and wrote, “You’ll lose in Nov because most want something smarter.”
[NOTE: Bacon is in favor of U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL)’s Dignity Bill, which would allow long-term undocumented immigrants to earn legal status through a 7-year “Dignity Program.” Trump’s former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon has responded to the Dignity Bill by calling Salazar “a traitorous Republican.”]