Rubio: MS-13 an ‘evil, horrifying organization’

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Wednesday defended President Trump’s mention of MS-13 in his State of the Union address, rejecting the suggestion that the president used the gang to allude to immigrants more broadly.

“The bottom line is MS-13 is an evil, horrifying organization that’s killing and hurting people all over the country,” Rubio said on CBS’s “This Morning.” “Of course the majority of immigrants are not members of MS-13.”

“[Trump] never said they were,” he added. “And my second point is, the majority of the victims of MS-13 happen to be from immigrant families and immigrant communities.”

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“MS-13 does not go into Beverly Hills. MS-13 is in communities where other immigrants are living and that is who they prey on and that is who they harm.”

In his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump seized on violence committed by members of MS-13 to call on Congress to tighten immigration laws and “close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13 and other criminal gangs” to enter the United States.

The line was a familiar one for Trump, who has pushed for increased border security and the construction of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

Critics accused Trump of using the gang to target immigrants more broadly. But Rubio said that refraining from targeting MS-13 would be “like saying that you can’t criticize the mafia because they’re Italian-American.”