Marco Rubio Lies Again About ICE And Breitbart

Within a matter of minutes, Rubio uttered falsehood after falsehood about Chris Crane and the agency he works for. He even accused Breitbart, after describing it as “not a credible source”, of falsely reporting that Fox News leaked debate questions to him in advance, a claim that a simple search of the site would prove to be baseless. But the senator’s most vile lies were reserved for Crane, whom he characterized as nothing more than a pencil-pushing union leader instead of the law enforcement officer he actually is:

“1) Rubio implicitly demeaned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council President Chris Crane by declaring that Crane’s desired changes to the Gang of Eight bill pertained to “labor union stuff” rather than the substantive concerns Crane had about how the bill would negatively impact the safety of the American people.

Crane is an ICE officer of 13 years. He is a former U.S. Marine, a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and of the American Legion.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has described Crane as ‘an American hero’ for blowing the whistle on immigration corruption. In 2012, after President Obama enacted his first executive amnesty, Crane and several of his fellow officers took action and filed a lawsuit against the President for his lawless amnesty.

Yet Rubio seemed determined to portray Crane in a different light–falsely declaring that Crane’s criticisms were about “more kind of labor union stuff”:

He was not advocating on behalf of ICE, he was advocating on behalf of a federal government labor union that represents those officers. And I have incredible admiration for ICE officers and for what they’re doing. But when he talks about the criticisms that he made, you know, he wasn’t doing it on behalf of the agency. We worked with the agency, we worked with him. He gave us a list of recommendations, many of which I fought for, some of which had nothing to do, but he just wanted more kind of labor union stuff.

This, however, is not correct. Crane’s criticisms were not about ‘labor union stuff.’ Rather, Crane’s criticisms were about protecting the American people. For instance, one of Crane’s criticisms was about removing a provision of the bill that would allow sex offenders to get amnesty. As Crane explained in his interview with Breitbart News last week:

Obviously the changes I suggested were all serious enforcement-related issues, such as establishing a biometric entry-exit system, and cracking down on sex offenders, gang members, violent criminals and other criminal aliens. When I walked out of his office that night I definitely thought the bill would undergo significant changes, but of course absolutely no changes were made.”

“2) Rubio said that Crane ‘wasn’t speaking on behalf of ICE.’

Rubio told Baier:

First of all, Bret, I didn’t say he wasn’t an ICE officer–I said he was not an ICE official. He was not advocating on behalf of ICE, he was advocating on behalf of a federal government labor union that represents those officers…When I said he wasn’t an ICE official–he wasn’t speaking on behalf of ICE. The question from Neil [Cavuto] made it sound like he was a representative of ICE, the agency–that was advocating for specific public policy. He was representing the union.

This statement is deliberately misleading. As the President of the ICE Council, Crane represents approximately 5,800 frontline ICE officers, agents, and personnel who are responsible for enforcing America’s immigration laws in all 50 states and U.S. territories. Crane was elected by his fellow officers to be their national spokesman. By Rubio’s logic, the concerns articulated by the leader of the Fraternal Order of Police on behalf of the nation’s police officers should similarly be disregarded, because they act as a union.”

Source: Breitbart