Rand Paul’s recent attacks on Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan
US: Rand Paul’s recent criticism of Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations is the most recent instance of the senator from Kentucky criticizing the president-elect. While Paul supports “going after” immigrants who commit murder and sexual offenses, he said on Sunday on CBS News’ Face the Nation that it would be “illegal” to use the army and other armed forces to do so.
Paul also told Newsmax last week that using the army to apprehend illegal immigrants throughout the United States would be a “terrible image.” Paul will serve as the head of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in the next legislative session.
After competing against Trump in the 2016 GOP presidential primaries, the senator from Kentucky turned into a staunch Trump backer. Paul, who never really supported Trump in the 2024 campaign, has since grown increasingly vocal in his criticism of him.
It will be years before the president-elect decides whether or not to provide the Kentucky senator the powerful Trump support since Paul is not running for reelection until 2028.
Paul said in an interview with Face the Nation that although he supports some of Trump’s proposals for mass deportations, he opposes the idea of using the military to carry them out.
“I completely support pursuing the 13,000 perpetrators of sexual assault, the 15,000 murders, and the rapists. Paul responded, “Let’s send them to prison or back home to another prison.” “But you don’t do it with the army because it’s illegal, and we’ve had a distrust of putting the army into our streets.”
Paul seems to be misrepresenting statistics issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in September, which showed that during a 40-year period, there were 15,811 immigrants convicted of sexual assault and 13,099 aliens convicted of murder who were now residents of the United States.
“I think if we start there, we will be fine,” Paul told Newsmax on November 19, using the same numbers. I oppose deploying uniformed soldiers into our communities to gather people. It’s a horrible picture, in my opinion.
During his interview on Face the Nation, Paul also criticized Trump’s intentions to raise foreign trade duties.
“I don’t like tariffs, but then again I don’t like the president promoting tariffs,” Paul said. “I think tariffs are a tax on the consumer.”
Paul said in September that he would rather Trump win the 2024 election than Kamala Harris, which is why he did not fully back him.
Paul told CNBC News, “As far as my enthusiasm goes, I’m a deficit hawk.” “Eight trillion [dollars] were added by the Trump administration. Eight trillion will be added under the Biden administration. We will add an additional 2 trillion this year.
Trump was pushing for $2,500 [COVID-19 pandemic stimulus] payments to be sent to everyone as he was leaving office. That’s not for me. I want to hear more forceful words in that regard since I opposed the lockdowns.
Paul also mentioned the debt and Trump’s decision to place the nation under lockdown at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in July as reasons for not supporting the Republican presidential candidate this year.
“If he wants to get my vote and my support and wants me to be more active in this, that he’s going to have to be more vocal on things like the lockdowns that I opposed, like the civil liberties abuses that I opposed, like the debt, which frankly, has been bad under Republicans and Democrats,” Paul told Spectrum News, a news organization. “So I’m looking for a little bit more before I make a final decision.”
Paul criticized Trump in March for supporting former Congressman Mike Rogers for the Senate seat in Michigan.
Paul wrote, “Donald Trump just endorsed the worst Deep State candidate this cycle,” on X, the defunct Twitter platform. “A card-carrying member of the surveillance state that aims to demolish Trump, Rogers is a never-Trumper. You must wonder, “Who gives Trump this terrible advice?”
Later, Democrat Elissa Slotkin defeated Rogers in the Michigan Senate election.
In the past, Trump’s inner circle has voiced worries that Paul might start criticizing him more.
“There’s a growing sentiment in Trumpworld that Rand can’t be trusted, and it’s a great disappointment,” political strategist and Trump associate Alex Bruesewitz said with Axios in June.
Paul’s possible dissent in the upper chamber could not have as big of an impact on obstruction since the GOP will have a 53-47 seat majority in the Senate next year.
