Senate Republican: This Trump plan would be a ‘huge mistake’

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) opposes President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed plan to use the military to carry out mass deportations across the country, he said in a recent interview.
Paul said in an interview with NewsMax Tuesday night that Republicans need to urge Trump not to order the military to carry out deportations across U.S. cities. He said that while he supports Trump’s other immigration policies, like “Remain in Mexico,” the military is not trained to remove migrants from the cities.
“I‘m not in favor of sending the army in uniforms into our cities to collect people. I think it’s a terrible image, and 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 city,” he said.
“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, I am all for ‘Remain in Mexico.’ I will not support an emergency to put the army into our cities. I think that’s a huge mistake,” he added.
He went on to reiterate his support for Trump despite disagreeing with him on this potential policy.
“I’m supportive of President Trump. I’m supportive of removing people illegally, here, particularly people who have committed crimes. But I’m not for the army marching up and down our streets. I think it’s a terrible image that’s in the world. It’s a terrible image for us as citizens, and so I hope he will think twice about trying to use an emergency edict to have the army patrolling our country,” Paul added.
Trump floated earlier this week that he could declare a national emergency to use the military to carry out a “mass deportation program” of undocumented immigrants once he’s back in the White House.
“TRUE!!!” Trump posted to Truth Social along with a post from conservative activist Tom Fitton that read, “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’s incoming deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Tuesday that “the largest deportation” in U.S. history will begin at “light speed.”
Trump can direct his administration to begin the effort the minute he arrives in office, but it’s much more complicated to actually deport the nearly 11 million people who are believed to be in the United States illegally. That would require a huge, trained law enforcement force, massive detention facilities, airplanes to move people and nations willing to accept them.
Trump has said he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act. That rarely used 1798 law allows the president to deport anyone who is not an American citizen and is from a country with which there is a “declared war” or a threatened or attempted “invasion or predatory incursion.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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