In town hall meeting, Sens. McCain and Graham talk ‘bad hombres’
Mar 1, 2017, 8:08 PM | Updated: Mar 2, 2017, 11:24 am
Graham: It’s good that Trump is “getting the bad hombres out,” but their moms are not “bad hombrettes” #CNNTownHall https://t.co/gbqy7YaOOf
— CNN (@CNN) March 2, 2017
PHOENIX — During a nationally-televised town hall meeting on Wednesday night, Arizona Sen. John McCain and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham fielded questions on controversial immigration policies.
One of those questions came from Angel Rayos Garcia, the son of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos — a Mesa mother who was deported. Angel and his sister attended President Trump’s Presidential Address on Tuesday night as a guest of Arizona congressman Ruben Gallego.
Garcia asked McCain how they planned to prevent families from being separated.
“We have to understand that there’s a category of people in this country who were brought to this country as children,” McCain said. “That was not their doing.”
McCain went on to emphasize his priority of deporting those who have committed serious crimes, as well as implementing immigration reform.
Sen. Graham’s response was more colorful.
“What Trump is doing is a good thing in terms of getting the bad hombres out,” he said. “His mother is not a bad hombrette.”
“The bottom line here is, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party have a chance here to secure our border, control who gets a job, and tell the difference between a repeat offender, a rapist, a drug dealer, a bad hombre.”
Jamiel Shaw, the father of a young man who was killed by an undocumented immigrant in 2008, asked the senators about their stances on sanctuary cities. McCain sternly voiced his opposition to the concept, which has recently become a point of contention in his own state.
“When laws are passed, federal laws that apply to the United States of America, municipalities cannot exempt themselves,” McCain responded.
“If we had a system of government that can pass certain laws and towns and cities across the country said, ‘Well, we’re not going to obey that law,’ then obviously, that would be a breakdown in government.”
