Thursday on CNN’s “New Day,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) argued the tough position many thought President Donald Trump had on the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy was perhaps more perception than reality.
Rubio, one of Trump’s opponents in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, told “New Day” host Chris Cuomo he never thought Trump was “gung-ho” about kicking the so-called DREAMers out.
“Border security is a fundamental responsibility of federal government, and a wall is a part of that,” Rubio said. “It’s not the only part of it. You know, a significant number of people in this country illegally don’t cross the border. They come in on a visa. So you’ve got to deal with that. And I think a broken legal immigration system contributes to it as well. As far as DACA is concerned, I don’t think the president has ever said he wanted to round up and deport young people educated in this country brought here as children. I think he has consistently over a period of time expressed his desire to do something differently with them than some people perceive. He’s going to have to do it in a way that assures this never happens again and we’re not incentivizing people to do this in the future. But I’ve never got the feeling from the president that he was gung-ho on kicking the DREAMers out of the United States. I’ve got the opposite.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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