Fox News "The Story" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Marco Rubio

Interview

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MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: Big important evening, Brett. Thank you very much. So, the question folks at home, will President Trump bargain amnesty for his wall or will he lay down the gauntlet tonight on the national emergency as he sees it. Senator Marco Rubio answers questions about that in moments.

And as Brett just said, in under two hours, President Trump will do something that only a president of the United States can do. An address from The Oval Office to the American people. It is reserved for very important moments. An attempts at persuasion for the American people.

For years, Democrats have said, yes we want a secure border. The president, of course, agrees with that. Tonight, he's going to say that the situation is a crisis. He's going to try to convince doubters that it is a danger to the country. Much is at stake. This is his biggest campaign promise was to build a wall. Where now, as it's called perhaps a fence with steel slats.

The point is it's going to be one that you can't get over, you can't go under, and you can't ram through the soft spots. You would have to enter the United States through an actual port of entry. Which many believed would be safer for everyone concerned.

The president has asked for just $5.6 billion in this agreement right now. And, of course, sounds like a lot of money to you and me. But look at it compared to the money that is spent by the federal government. A tiny sliver of the pie that is so small, in fact, that you can barely see it.

$5.6 billion at a $4.4 trillion in American taxpayer dollars that run the government and everything having to do with it, less than one percent. Also worth mentioning, Democrats right now are proposing $12 billion -- about twice that amount in foreign aid.

In moments, Geraldo Rivera and Juan Williams on the stakes for the president tonight in his very first Oval Office address, and the most important bully puppet probably in the world. But first, here is Senator Marco Rubio.

Senator, good evening. Great to have you with us this evening.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, R-FLA.: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: You know, when you look at the question of amnesty, this is a very hot issue for your party. And at times, it can make it very difficult to run on. You've run into issues of your own with the question of amnesty and your own definition of what you'd like to see in immigration. I just want to play something for you back from 2015, and then, we'll jump in here.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He was always in favor of amnesty, he was in favor of people pouring into the country. Then, what happened is when people found that out, he sank like a rock in the water.

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MACCALLUM: It's always used as a political cudgel and that was back during the early stages of the campaign. But the President may be in a situation where he needs to negotiate on the DREAMers. What do you say now about all this?

RUBIO: Yes, but, well first, all of the presidents's already offered amnesty to DREAMers. He's actually offered to not just take in the people that applied for DACA but the people who were eligible and didn't. So, frankly, he's got above and beyond what others have offered in the past. And even that was not enough for the Democrats and that negotiation.

Here is the bottom line. We support legal immigration, you can have a debate and people can argue about what the right number should be. But right now, every year, 1 million people -- over a million people every year come to the United States legally, OK?

Number two, if you -- so you can support a system of legal immigration. But that means that you also have to have a system that identifies people before they come in, that allows you to vet who they are, that allows you to control the numbers, and allows people to enter in an orderly process. We do that with everything else in life.

You can't just show up at a concert without a ticket. You can't just get on an airplane without going through TSA, and you can't just go into any country in the world because you decide just to walk in. There has to be a process.

Now, when we talk about a wall, a wall isn't just about keeping people out. A wall is to funnel traffic so that someone who's crossing the border has to cross an appointed entry where they can be monitored, or you can check who they are, and you can check what they're bringing.

And I would have one more point in all this. This is not just about immigration. This is about the humanitarian crisis that a porous border presents for the country. When people believe that they're going to be able to get across that border, they go on that journey. It's a dangerous journey, they bring children with them. Young families, people are dying on the way here.

The only people winning here are the traffickers. It's bad for Mexico, it's bad for America, it's bad for these migrants, and it's -- a wall is part of the solution. It's not the only thing we have to do, but it's a part of it.

By the way, one last point, I apologize, the $5 billion isn't just for a wall. It is to fund the top 10 priorities in the border security plan that does include a wall. It includes other things, as well. And many of the people opposed to that. Voted for $20 million -- $20 billion of funding for border security in 2013.

MACCALLUM: That's right.

RUBIO: And that bill that was so controversial that was a part of.

MACCALLUM: Well, as you rightly point out, the President did offer 800,000 DACA recipients also known as DREAMers to be able to stay in the country. That deal appears to be off the table, at least, at the moment. And what we're hearing now from the White House is that he's more dug in on this than ever. Take a look at one of the quotes from a couple of his supporters who want nothing to do with any kind of DREAMer exchange.

This one from the ALIPAC president, "Any support of DACA amnesty, before, or after construction of the border wall is a betrayal to his campaign promises." This from Kris Kobach, "Any amnesty, whether it's DACA or some other amnesty, will have incredibly negative consequences for the country." Your thoughts, sir.

RUBIO: Well, I don't -- I don't believe that, that should be negotiated as part of this. This is -- look, no matter what someone believes about whether we should give amnesty to people that have been here a long time or not, whether you should deport everybody. The one thing we should all agree on is that every country in the world has a system by which they monitor, control, who comes in, when they come in, and how they come in, and the United States should be no different.

Every other nation on earth does that. Mexico does it, Guatemala does it, Canada does it, and America should do it. And we have a problem on the southern border of not just people being trafficked but drugs, almost all this heroin that's finding itself in the street, the fentanyl that's being shipped in from China. A lot of that it's coming across that border. So, even if we didn't have an immigration problem, you have a rationale for limiting how people could come in, and what can come into our borders.

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MACCALLUM: But, you know, understood. But, you know, the argument has become by some on the other side of the aisle from you. That any form of wall, any barrier that it has a racist connotation that we're being immoral if you want to protect the country.

Alexandria Ocacio-Cortez getting a lot of attention since she started her new job. Today, she said this, "The president defended neo-Nazis who murdered a woman in Charlottesville. The Department of Justice sued him for not renting to black tenants. He launched his campaign by calling Mexicans "rapists." He banned Muslims. The president is racist and that should make you uncomfortable." Your thoughts.

RUBIO: Yes, look, at all that kind of outrageous talk has become part for the course in today's politics. That makes you famous and it gets you noticed. I'm here to make a difference into past laws and to do serious stuff. And the bottom line is that no matter who the president of the United States is, whether you like them or not, one of the fundamental obligations of the federal government is to enforce our immigration laws.

In essence, what they are -- so people that opposes are basically saying, "Yes, we want to have immigration laws. But we don't want you to enforce them." And I think that's the question is what are you in favor of? What enforcement measures are you in favor of? Because the biggest threat to legal immigration is illegal immigration. It has turned immigration, which is something that we are a nation of immigrants into a controversial topic because we still welcome 1-1/2 -- 1.2 million people every single year into this country legally.

But they're saying, anyone, who comes you should be able to stay here or we should just look the other way. I know they give lip service to border security and enforce the law. But they know in practical terms, what they are advocating is that anyone who comes here gets to stay here.

How is that good for anyone? It certainly not good for us, and it's -- and it's blending itself to this trafficking network that's trafficking in human beings. But again, beyond immigration, drugs are crossing that border. Every day. And guns are going back the other way into Mexico. That's why there's got to be more control there.

MACCALLUM: We're going to get into more of this with Geraldo and Juan Williams in just a second. Before I let you go, very quickly, you had a bill that did not pass today. I know you feel very strongly about it.

Senate Bill Number One which had to do with Middle East security. And it also had to do with something that you see as an anti-Israeli sentiment on the Democrat side in the Senate.

RUBIO: Yes, well, look, there's a movement that they're called BDS, Boycott Divestment Sanctions. And it pressures companies to do no business in Israel, boycott Israel, divest of any investments in Israel.

We have a law -- bipartisan law, by the way, that says that a city or a state has the right to not have any contracts or do any business or contract for services or goods with companies that are boycotting Israel. That's what the bill does. Doesn't force them to do it, it just gives them the right to do it.

And all of a sudden, we have people out there on the Democratic side, they don't want to vote for it. They all claim to be against BDS. But if you are shielding companies that participate in BDS from any sort of counter Boycott against them for doing that.

MACCALLUM: Understood.

RUBIO: They have a right to do it. People have a right to not do business with them. If you're shielding them, you're supporting BDS.

MACCALLUM: There and take it up again. Senator Rubio, thank you very much. Great to have you with us tonight.

RUBIO: Thank you.

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