WATCH: Jake Tapper, Scott Jennings Square Off Over Deportations

CNN Republican commentator Scott Jennings and anchor Jake Tapper squared off over illegal immigration and the potential impact of President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to begin deporting illegal immigrants from the United States.

Jennings noted that a number of Democrats have raised objections to the plan — and some have made the argument that mass deportation would adversely impact grocery prices because of the number of illegal migrants who work in agriculture. Tapper appeared to object, but ended up making the same argument.

WATCH:

CNN’s Jake Tapper: “Who’s having a meltdown [about Trump deporting farm workers]?”@ScottJenningsKY: “Uhhhh — I mean, everybody seems to be on the same sheet of music today that this is going to mess up the agriculture industry and drive the grocery prices higher. I’ve seen… pic.twitter.com/MMQIBphssn

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 18, 2024

“Who’s having a meltdown?” Tapper asked.

“Uhhhh — I mean, everybody seems to be on the same sheet of music today that this is going to mess up the agriculture industry and drive the grocery prices higher,” Jennings replied. “I’ve seen numerous pieces on it. I’ve seen everybody seems to be out there talking about it and so, it strikes me, Jake, that Democrats — this is their new line of attack, that Donald Trump’s got a plan to raise your grocery prices simply by following through on his campaign promises. And I don’t — I just don’t think it’s true.”

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“I’ve been covering this issue since the first Bush administration in 2001,” Tapper pushed back. “I mean, this is always one of the issues with it — is that there are a lot of undocumented immigrants who work for the agricultural sector and there’s always concerns about are those people actually going to be deported and, if so, what happens to prices for, you know, regular folk just trying to make a — make an honest living and buy some eggs.”

Prior to Trump’s sweeping victory on November 5, Vice President-elect JD Vance explained that a new Trump administration would start by deporting illegal immigrants who had committed crimes in the United States or who already had standing deportation orders. President-elect Trump has confirmed that he would use military assets to aid in the deportation process.