Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) might have bristled a little when he called for mass deportations of illegal immigrants. In a recent interview, he advocated “dramatic” steps to address the ongoing border crisis.
Rubio’s comments come as House Republicans have introduced the Reshape Alternatives to Detention Act of 2024, aimed at addressing the steady flow of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers into the United States.
On Sunday, Rubio participated in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with host Kristen Welker, who addressed former President Donald Trump’s plan to create detention centers for illegals and deport “more than 11 million undocumented immigrants.” She asked if the senator supported this plan.
Rubio began by pointing out that the 11 million figure was “outdated,” noting that “we’re talking about more than 20, 25, maybe 30 million” illegals in the country. Then, he spoke Welker’s question:
“The answer to your question is: Yes, we cannot accept 25, 30 million people who entered this country illegally. You are here illegally. What country on earth would tolerate that? We don’t even know who most of these people are. They talk about verification. Check them with what? They come from countries that in many cases do not even have documented systems. Yes, we have to do something. “Unfortunately, we need to do something dramatic to remove people from this country who are here illegally, especially people we don’t know about.”
The United States cannot accept more than 30 million illegal immigrants. pic.twitter.com/UlkGshQ9Ba
– Senator Marco Rubio (@SenMarcoRubio) May 19, 2024
Welker then brought up Rubio’s comments about Trump’s 2016 mass deportation proposal. He argued it was not “reasonable” to suggest “you are going to round up and deport 11 million people.”
“Why did you change your mind now,” she asked. Rubio responded, noting, “The problem has completely changed.
“In the last three years alone, we’ve had close to that number from all over the world, including people who I believe are terrorists, people who I believe are going to commit terrorist attacks in this country, who certainly have the opportunity to this.” People who were criminals in their home country. This is not immigration. This is a dramatic mass migration. And by the way, I’m not a huge poll taker, but polls show that most Americans agree on this.
Rubio’s comments come shortly after Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) introduced a bill to overhaul the current Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program. The bill would make significant changes to the way immigration enforcement is conducted. The goal is to eliminate certain ATD programs and reallocate funding to enhance detention capacity.
The bill also requires mandatory detention of illegals previously released under the discontinued ATD programs. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), who introduced the bill in the Senate, slammed The Biden administration for allowing “a tidal wave of illegal immigrants to cross our southern border, resulting in an unprecedented national security and humanitarian crisis.”
“Biden’s DHS refuses to enforce the laws already in place and is making clear efforts to eliminate detention and allow illegal immigrants to move freely through the US through the abuse of ATD,” he added.
