Rand Paul, a Republican senator of Kentucky, has criticized Donald Trump’s proposed use of the US military to conduct mass deportations of immigrants when he returns to the White House.
While Paul still supports Trump’s plans to expel millions of immigrants from the US, the lawmaker has opposed using the US military to do so, arguing that law enforcement would be better suited.
The mass deportation plans have been widely condemned by civil rights groups and Democrats as cruel and potentially hugely damaging to the US economy. They may also affect many US citizen children, who may have one or both parents vulnerable to deportation.
During a Sunday interview with CBS News’s Face the Nation, Paul was asked how immigration authorities should carry out mass deportations.
“What we know now about the immigration authorities who would have to be charged with rounding these individuals up, there are just 6,000 agents, 41,000 detention beds to carry out the assignment of rounding up millions of undocumented people, potentially. How do you suggest they implement it?” asked the CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan.
Paul criticized plans to use the military for deportation as “illegal”, adding: “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.”
Paul did not directly respond to questions on whether use of the military to conduct deportations would impact his Senate vote to confirm Trump’s pick to run the Department of Homeland Security: the South Dakota governor, Kristi Noem.
He replied: “I will not support and will not vote to use the military in our cities. I think it’s a terrible image.”
In a post to Truth Social, Trump confirmed plans to call for a national emergency and utilize the military resources for deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Tom Fitton, head of the conservative watch group Judicial Watch, wrote that the Trump’s administration was “prepared to declare a national emergency” and would “use military assets” to carry out mass deportations.
Trump replied to Fitton’s message with: “TRUE!!!”
