Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said during an interview over the weekend that he fully supports former President Donald Trump’s purported plan to conduct widespread deportations of illegal aliens should he become president again.
Rubio, who is a rumored vice presidential candidate, made the remarks during a Sunday interview on NBC News’s “Meet The Press” with Kristen Welker.
“If re-elected, Donald Trump has said he’s willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military to deport the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country,” she said. “It would be the largest deportation operation in American history. Do you support that plan?”
Rubio noted that the 11 million number was low and that the actual number could be as high as 30 million illegal aliens, as nearly 9-10 million have entered the country under President Joe Biden alone.
“The answer to your question is yes,” he said. “We cannot absorb 25, 30 million people who entered this country illegally. They’re here illegally. What country on earth would tolerate that? We don’t even know who some of these, most of these people are. They talk about vetting; vetting them with what? They’re coming from nations that don’t even have document systems in many cases. Yes, we are going to have to do something. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to do something dramatic to remove people from this country that are here illegally, especially people we know nothing about. But 10 million, 11 million, that was the number 15 years ago. Today, it’s upwards of probably 25-30 million, maybe more.”
When asked about his shift on the issue from several years ago, Rubio said that things have “completely changed” due to how out of control the situation has become since Biden was inaugurated.
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“When I said that and back in 2013, when I was involved in immigration reform, we had 11 to 12 million people that had been here for longer than a decade,” he said. “Now, we’ve had almost that number in the last three years alone from all over the world, including people, that I believe, are terrorists. People, that I believe, are going to conduct terrorist attacks in this country if given the opportunity. Certainly people that were criminals in their home country. This is a completely different – this is not immigration. You asked me about immigration, this is mass migration. Mass migration. This is an invasion of the country and it needs to be dealt with dramatically. And by the way, I don’t – I’m not a big poll follower, but polls show most Americans agree with us on this.”
WATCH:
WATCH: In 2016, @SenMarcoRubio (R-Fla.) said Donald Trump’s mass-deportation proposals weren’t “realistic.” @kwelkernbc: “Why have you changed your mind now?”
Rubio: “The issue has completely changed. … This is mass migration … and it needs to be dealt with dramatically.” pic.twitter.com/b0BI5KzXXa
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 19, 2024
