Rubio: Not Wise For Trump to Cast Immigrants as Criminals — ‘Vast Majority’ Want a Better Life

In a preview clip from CNN’s “The Axe Files” that airs Saturday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said it was not “wise” for President Donald Trump to cast the majority of immigrants as criminals.

Partial transcript as follows:

AXELROD: The president has depicted the people who are coming as dangerous, he said they are not sending us their best, rapists, murderers….The vast 98%, 99% of these people are being charged with a misdemeanor, they don’t have criminal histories. Is it fair to depict them in that way?

RUBIO: I don’t think it is ever wise to cast a broad net, a generalization over any group of human beings. So, yes there are people that cross the border that are dangerous and criminals and alike. I would say through my experience the vast majority of people are coming over because just want a better life. My sense of it is if you are a father, for example my situation, if my family is desperate they are living in a dangerous situation, I’d do almost anything to protect my children and find a better life for them. So we have to understand that element of it. That doesn’t mean we don’t have to have laws on our end. Mexico has immigration laws. Canada has immigration laws. I don’t think that we should generalize. I think vast majority of people crossing the border are just coming because they want something better.

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