Rubio: No border crisis if I were president

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Wednesday said the border crisis wouldn’t exist if he were commander in chief.

“Well first of all, it wouldn’t have happened because I never would’ve signed an executive action granting deferred action to those who were in this country illegally,” he told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.

{mosads}”I think it shows a tremendous amount of compassion, but that wasn’t the right way to do it. It sent the message that actually invited people to come, and you see the disaster that has followed.”

The Florida lawmaker and potential Republican presidential hopeful outlined reform efforts needed to curb the surge of young illegal immigrants streaming across the southern border.

“The first step in this process needs to be an all-out effort to finally put to rest the illegal immigration problem in America,” he said, adding that the U.S. needs to install strategic fencing and deploy specific technologies — such as ground sensors and drones — to secure the southern border. He also called for an E-Verify system requiring employers to confirm that their employees are legal residents.

“Forty percent of our illegal immigration problem are people that enter the country legally and overstay visa,” he added.

When asked what he thinks of Obama placing the blame on the GOP, Rubio replied, “I think it’s an indictment of all of Washington, of the failure for more than a decade to deal with a problem that we know exists.”