Republican Senator Rand Paul has said he would break ranks and not support Donald Trump’s “terrible” plans to use the military to carry out mass deportations.
The Kentucky lawmaker told CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday that he supports the president-elect’s plans to deport “the 15,000 murderers and 13,000 sexual assault perpetrators” but only through the “normal process of domestic policing.”
By contrast, Trump’s idea to use the military for mass deportations is “illegal” and would create a “terrible image,” he said.
“I will not support and will not vote to use the military in our cities. I think it’s a terrible image,” he said.
“I’m 100 percent supportive of going after the 15,000 murderers, the 13,000 sexual assault perpetrators, rapists, all these people,” Paul said. “But you don’t do it with the army because it’s illegal.”
He added: “If they send the army into New York, and you have 10,000 troops marching, carrying semiautomatic weapons, I think it’s a terrible image, and I will oppose that. But it’s not that I oppose removing people. I just object to what has been against the law for over 100 years and that’s using the army.”
Last week, Trump appeared to confirm plans that he would use the military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented migrants when he takes office.
Conservative activist Tom Fitton posted on Truth Social: “GOOD NEWS: Reports are the incoming @RealDonaldTrump administration prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.”
Trump quoted the message and wrote: “TRUE!!!”
Karoline Leavitt, Trump transition spokesperson and his incoming press secretary, previously confirmed that the president-elect “will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history while simultaneously lowering costs for families.”
Trump has selected Tom Homan, his former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to serve as a “border czar” to implement the plan, which will include law enforcement raids of workplaces.
Homan is among the architects of Trump’s first-term “zero tolerance” anti-immigrant agenda, including the practice of separating thousands of children from their families at the US’s southern border with Mexico.
Americans’ support for deportations grew by 20 points from 2017 to 2024, according to a survey by CNN. The survey also found a 22-point rise from 2019 in the number of voters who believe that “having an increasing number of people of many different races, ethnic groups, and nationalities in the US” poses a threat to society.
