Rubio: True Story Of Springfield Is Consequences To Moving Thousands Of Migrants Into Small Town

 Sen. Marco Rubio responded to questions about what Donald Trump has said about the migrant crisis in Springfield, Ohio, during an interview with Margaret Brennan on CBS's "Face The Nation."

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, here in this country, in terms of people being inspired to take action, we have been looking, as you heard about, what the perception of the public is right now, particularly some of the things that Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance say. Our poll shows two thirds of Trump supporters believe those false and disparaging claims about Haitian migrants are true. The governor of Ohio has said he is a big supporter of the ticket, but he's sad about this because there's no evidence of these claims, he's disparaging migrants who are legal, and the verbal attacks dilute and cloud what should be a winning argument for Republicans about the border. Do you agree that this kind of thing is a distraction from the broader point and dangerous?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO: Well it shouldn't be a distraction because, at a minimum, it shouldn't keep us from, for example, saying, "Okay, well maybe I don't believe I don't believe the dogs and the cats thing, but there are literally people moving in by the by the thousands in the case of Springfield."

Charleroi in Pennsylvania, you know, that's a 4,000 person city that has 2,500 migrants.

I think one of the problems here is that somehow Americans who are not intolerant, they're not bigots, they're not -- but they are troubled by the fact that their city is being flooded. In Springfield, you see reports, these are legitimate reports of huge increases in traffic accidents leading to slower police response time, overcrowded schools. I mean the strain this puts on a community, and if you complain about it, somehow you're a bigot, you're a racist, you're a hater--

MARGARET BRENNAN: No we've talked about those legitimate--

SEN. RUBIO: That is a story here that everyday Americans are being made to feel like they're haters because they're complaining about something all- any of us would complain. If any of us, I don't care who we are, live in a city of 4,000 people, and you bring in 2,500 migrants overnight into one place, there are going to be problems there.

MARGARET BRENNAN: There are absolutely problems--

SEN. RUBIO: It doesn't make you a bigot there. That should be what we're focused on.

MARGARET BRENNAN: The governor has documented and that we have talked about here. But it wasn't everyday people making those claims. It was the Republican nominee and his Vice President making those false claims about Haitian migrants. That rhetoric--

SEN. RUBIO: Well, those are claims that people in those communities made, maybe some of now recanted or moved aside from it. But that should not take us away from the fundamental truth, and that is, there are real impacts happening when you move people into communities, as has been done by design, by the Biden administration--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes, but you know, you're in leadership. You know words matter.

SEN. RUBIO: Yeah, and I think one of the words that should matter the most is there is a real migratory crisis. There is a real migratory crisis and even in this particular case, not just Springfield, Charleroi, other places like that, there are real impacts happening in our country with this movement of mass migration, and that's not gotten the coverage that it deserves. And you say you've covered it, but it hasn't gotten the coverage. The cats and dogs thing has gotten way more coverage than the real-world impacts that this is having, and I think that's what needs to change, and the way this issue is covered.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/09/22/marco_rubio_the_true_story_of_springfield_ohio_is_there_are_consequences_to_moving_thousands_of_migrants_into_a_small_town.html