Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said Sunday he will oppose any parts of President-elect Donald trump’s deportation plan that require the use of military force.
“You know, I’m 100 percent supportive of going after the 15,000 murderers, the 13,000 sexual assault perpetrators, rapists, all these people. Let’s send them on their way to prison or back home to another prison,” Paul said Sunday during an appearance on CBS News program “Face the Nation,” according to a viral video clip posted to X.
But Paul said one aspect that has been discussed is beyond the law.
“But you don’t do it with the Army because it’s illegal,” he said.
“We’ve, we’ve had a distrust of putting the army into our streets, because the police have a difficult job but the police understand the Fourth Amendment,” he said.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) says he supports President-elect Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations, but not his suggestion of using the military for it, “because it’s illegal.”
“We’ve had a distrust of putting the army into our streets,” he says, calling for deportations “through… pic.twitter.com/WUms7FSu66
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) November 24, 2024
Paul said deportations have to be targeted and follow a process.
“They have to go to Judges. They have to get warrants. It has to be specific. And so I’m for removing these people, but I would do it through the normal process of domestic policing,” he said.
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Paul was asked if his opposition to the army being used would translate into opposing the nomination of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
“I will not support and will not vote to use the military in our cities. I think it’s a terrible image,” he reiterated.
“But I will tell you, but just in the last week, with the belief that a new administration will change things, there were four or five criminals arrested in the last week. And what would happen, and I think what will happen under Donald Trump’s administration is, I don’t recommend to use the army, but I would use the FBI, I would use ICE, I would use Border Patrol,” he said, estimating about 30,000 dangerous illegal immigrants are in the country now who deserve to be deported.
“That should be the first priority for all of this. Let’s go find those people. But it’s not about detaining them, in all likelihood, they should be going to a jail, either a jail here or in the country they came from. So I think if we did that, there will be a lot of unity,” Paul said.
“If they send the army into New York, and you have 10,000 troops marching carrying semi automatic weapons, I think it’s a terrible image, and I will oppose that. But it’s not that I oppose removing [illegal immigrants],” he said.
Last week, Denver Mayor Mike Johnson vowed to fight deportation efforts, according to Denverite.
“More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them,” Johnston said, later telling The Guardian his language may have been over the top, but he was solidly opposed to deportations.
Paul had harsh words for Johnson in his interview.
“Now, I would say that the mayor of Denver, if he’s going to resist federal law, which there’s a longstanding history of the supremacy of federal law, he’s going to resist that it will go all the way to the Supreme Court. And I would suspect that he would be removed from office,” Paul said.
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