Traumatized families seeking to enter the United States need sympathy, not separation per a U.S. law, according to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who said a secure border must be the priority.
"Number one is we have a problem and it needs to be dealt with," Rubio told CBS's "Face the Nation." "The ideal scenario is that families be kept together and returned expeditiously back to their country of origin.
"We sympathize with people that are coming here. America is the most generous country in the world and ideally you wouldn't put people through additional trauma once they came into the United States."
Rubio's response came after a question about President Donald Trump's tweet Saturday, which called out Democrats for resisting reform to immigration laws:
"Well, I would be open to changing that law, but the better law to change would be to secure our border and to send a clear message that you cannot continue to enter the United States illegally," Rubio told host Margaret Brennan.
Rubio said U.S. laws encourage the abuse of immigration leading to potential human trafficking.
"It is actually inhumane not to secure our border, because we are sending out a message that is encouraging people to come here. We have to understand a lot of these people that are crossing children are being trafficked here," he added. "They are being brought here by criminal groups that help guide them and often take advantage of them and brutalize them on the path toward the United States and the ability to cross that border is a magnet that is drawing this behavior."
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