Carson: Don’t use drones to kill at border

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Sunday that he did not advocate using drone strikes to kill people along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Carson instead said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he thought drones would offer increased surveillance that would help secure the border, and he blamed the media for wrongly reporting about his position.

{mosads}“In no way did I suggest that drones be used to kill people,” said Carson, a retired neurosurgeon. “And I said that to the media at the time.”

Carson added that he would consider using drone strikes to destroy caves that hide smugglers along the border but that he would strive to ensure there would be no casualties in those strikes.

“Those caves can be eliminated,” Carson said. “I’m not talking about killing people. No people with drones.”

Carson floated the idea of using drones after a border tour last week. Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman and GOP front-runner, has used a populist immigration message to his advantage in recent months.

“You look at some of these caves and things out there, one drone strike, boom, and they’re gone,” Carson said last week, according to CNN.