Marco Rubio Says U.S. Is Actively Seeking More Countries to Send Deportees: 'The Further Away From America the Better'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the Trump administration's immigration enforcement strategy during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting marking President Donald Trump's 100th day in office, revealing that the U.S. is seeking additional international cooperation to remove undocumented immigrants from the country.

"We have gone to countries all over the world and said, 'Hey, you want good relations with the United States? You need to take back your people that are here illegally,'" Rubio said during a passage of the meeting. He added that the administration is now "actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries, not just El Salvador," which is housing hundreds of Venezuelans accused of being part of Tren de Aragua gang.

"We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your country... and the further away from America the better," Rubio added.

Elsewhere in his meeting, Rubio declined to answer if a formal request from the admin has been made to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland being held in El Salvador even though the Supreme Court has ruled that the administration has to facilitate his return, saying instead:

"Well I would never tell you that. And you know who else I'll never tell? A judge"

Rubio has defended the administration's immigration policies despite the Supreme Court ruling that the deportation of some Venezuelan men based in Texas who the Trump administration said were members of Tren de Aragua should be halted, with attorneys for the immigrants asking for them not to be deported "before the American judicial system can afford them due process."

During a Sunday interview on NBC's "Meet the Press", Rubio claimed that "of course" all individuals in the U.S., regardless of citizenship status, are entitled to due process. However, he defended the use of the wartime Alien Enemies Act to expedite some deportations.

Rubio framed the administration's stricter immigration stance as a necessary departure from what he described as past leniency. "Once you come into our country illegally, it triggers all kinds of rights that can keep you here indefinitely. That's why we were being flooded at the border, and we've ended that," he said.