Interview highlights:
On President Trump’s performance in his first weeks in office
Jessica de la Cruz: I would say [he gets] an A. He campaigned on these promises and now he’s following through. I just feel that sometimes if I put my phone down for a couple of hours, I’ve missed what could be two days worth of news, but he is moving at lightning speed.
On President Trump’s proposed takeover of Gaza
de la Cruz: I don’t know much about the plan. I’ve only just heard that he made the statement about developing Gaza. I don’t think that means that we’re gonna have a 51st state. He’s a developer. If he’s talking about developing Gaza, that would be my assumption along that line. Once more information comes out, then I could speak more authoritatively on it.
On responses to President Trump’s proposed federal funding freeze
de la Cruz: I heard from a lot of people. Some of them were really happy with it. Some of them were very concerned. Some of them were administrators in the state who said we’re concerned about this agency and that agency. I get that concern because if there’s a pause on funding, people automatically question, ‘Well, are we going to have the funding necessary to pay our employees and pay this vendor?’ Those are valid concerns, but a pause in funding to review whether or not funding is being allocated properly and being used prudently, I’m not against that. I think everybody, including a family budget, needs to be reviewed to ensure that we’re spending money properly and it’s not being spent frivolously.
On President Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods
de la Cruz: Just from the threat of imposing these tariffs, Canada and Mexico concluded that America was right and that they were going to cooperate with the United States. I think that Mexico and Canada, in truth, have not been the best of neighbors the past four years in allowing fentanyl through open borders. They should have worked with the United States to secure the Mexico/United States border and the Canadian/United States border. And so what we’re seeing now is a course correction. I think it was done well.
On President Trump’s immigration policy
de la Cruz: I just think that individuals who think that we should allow violent criminals who are here illegally to stay in the United States; that is a very dangerous position. I think that is anti-American, but also it endangers the population. If you’re here illegally and you’ve committed a crime – a violent crime – you do need to be deported. You need to go back to your country. But when it comes to immigration, I’m all for it. I think that’s what makes America so unique and so beautiful.
On whether she would accept a position with the Trump administration
de la Cruz: I tell people if I were asked, it would be very hard to say no. But I’m also not going to leave Rhode Island for anything. I love what I do in the Senate. I feel that I’ve been effective. I’ve been able to do things that a lot of Republicans haven’t been able to do legislation-wise. I love what I do and it would just have to be something so significant for me to walk away. Who knows what the future holds?
