Newt Gingrich Backtracks, Says We Shouldn’t Deport Muslim Citizens

After backlash over his suggestion that everyone of “Muslim background” should be questioned by the authorities, former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich clarified Friday that his comments did not extend to U.S. citizens.

Gingrich’s original comments on Fox News’ Hannity seemed to be fairly cut and dry: “We should, frankly, test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in sharia, they should be deported,” he said following the terrorist attack in Nice, France.

But Gingrich accused the news media in a Facebook Live event of “going into a hysteria overnight in trying to grossly exaggerate what I was saying. If you are a practicing Muslim and you believe deeply in your faith, but you’re also loyal to the United States and you believe in the Constitution, you should have your rights totally, completely protected within the Constitution.”

“Now with an American citizen, deportation is impossible,” he said. “It’s not appropriate under the Constitution. And there historically, we’ve always said if you fought against the United States, the correct answers were basically jail instead of deportation.”

Still, Gingrich argued that some of the rights given to legal residents should be stripped away. “I think there we’ve got to revisit some of the the court decisions, some of the laws that have transferred to them rights of citizenship and protection of citizenship, even though they’re not citizens.”

Watch above, via Facebook.

[Image via screengrab]
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