Rubio Slams Misleading Headline About American Kids Being Deported

Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified a “misleading headline” saying that the Trump administration had “deported” three minors who are American.

Rubio told “Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker that these minors, while they were citizens and had not been deported at all, had only left because their illegal alien mothers were deported and took them along.

These minors were welcome to return to the country at any point, Rubio added.

“On the headline, that’s a misleading headline. Three U.S. citizens ages four, seven, and two, were not deported — their mothers, who were illegally in this country, were deported. The children went with their mothers!” Rubio said. “If those children are U.S. citizens, they can come back into the United States if their father or someone here wants to assume them, but ultimately who was deported was their mothers, who were here illegally. The children just went with their mothers. But it wasn’t like — you guys make it sound like ICE agents kicked down the door and grabbed the two-year-old and threw him on an airplane, that’s misleading! That’s just not true!”

Welker then asked if the Trump administration’s official policy was to deport American citizens if they are minors whose parents were illegal aliens and meant to be deported, saying “[I]s it the U.S. policy to deport children, even U.S. citizens, with their families — and I hear what you’re saying — without due process, just to be very clear?”

“No, no, no. No, no, again: if someone’s in the country unlawfully, illegally, that person gets deported. If that person is with a two-year-old child, or has a two-year-old child, and says, ‘I want to take my child with me,’ well then what —? You have two choices. You can say, ‘Yes, of course you can take your child, whether they’re a citizen or not, because it’s your child.’ Or you can say, ‘Yes, you can go, but your child must stay behind.’ And then your headlines would read, ‘U.S. holding hostage two-year-old, four-year-old, seven-year-old, while mother deported.’ The parents make that choice,” Rubio responded