Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said that he opposes the plan by President-elect Donald Trump to employ the military to help deport millions of illegal aliens.
Trump has made immigration a focus of his second term after historically high numbers of illegal aliens crossed into the U.S. under the Biden administration. As part of his plans, he has announced mass deportations aided by the U.S. military.
‘The police have a difficult job, but the people removing people from our country need to be a police enforcement domestic agency, not the military.’
“The stories all said he would declare an emergency to use the military to remove people. I’m not for that,” said Paul in an interview on Newsmax.
“I’m not in favor of sending the army in uniforms into our cities to collect people. I think it’s a terrible image. That’s not what we use our military for, we never have. And it’s actually been illegal for over 100 years to bring the Army into our cities,” he added.
Paul was likely referring to the Posse Comitatus Act from 1878 that prohibits federal troops from enforcing civilian law except when expressly authorized by a statute or the Constitution.
“Our Army and our military are trained to shoot the enemy. They’re not trained to get a warrant to do what they’re doing. The police have a difficult job, but the people removing people from our country need to be a police enforcement domestic agency, not the military,” Paul continued. “I will not support an emergency [declaration] to put the Army in our cities. I think that’s a huge mistake.”
Paul, who is a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said he would support efforts to focus on deporting illegal aliens with violent criminal convictions first. He posted the interview to his social media account, where he reiterated his dissenting argument.
“We, as conservatives who are supportive of Trump, need to caution him about sending the army into our cities. It’s a terrible image to send the world, and it’s a terrible image for us as citizens,” he posted.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana has defended Trump’s deportation plan but also signaled that the effort should focus on the millions of illegal aliens with criminal convictions first.
“I think what the president is talking about is beginning with the dangerous persons that we know are here,” Johnson explained. “There are criminals, known criminals. There are known terrorists in the country. There are some who have been apprehended for committing violent crimes after they’ve come across the border illegally. So you start with that number. You’ve got, by some counts, as many as 3 or 4 million people that fit in that category. Begin there and then see how it transpires.”
Some saw this as a capitulation while others believe it is more logistically plausible.
Here’s the full interview from NewsMax:
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