Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio criticized a potential travel ban imposed by President Joe Biden that would include Florida as an attempt by Democrats to “punish” the state.
Citing a spike in cases of the more contagious coronavirus variants, a federal official told The Miami Herald that Biden’s administration was considering the imposition of domestic travel restrictions on Florida and possibly other places.
Appearing Thursday night on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Rubio told host Tucker Carlson that the proposal was “ironic” considering that Biden once insisted that “travel bans against anywhere in the world do not work.”
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“Now, he wants to impose them on American citizens,” said Rubio. “Tonight, if you arrive at the U.S. southern border with a child, you will be allowed entry to the country … But if you are now an American citizen living in Florida that wants to travel, they’re gonna put some form of restriction in your way. It’s clearly unconstitutional.”
The Florida Republican suggested the passage of a “law making clear that this is not within the power of the administration to do.”
“I think they are trying to punish Florida,” he said. “I think they are embarrassed by what Florida has done. Florida has embarrassed California. Florida has embarrassed New York. It hosted a Super Bowl with actual people in the stands. The predictions about Florida didn’t come true and they’re like, ‘we can’t let this stand. We’ve gotta come up with something.’ I think there is an element of that that involves punishment. I really do.” (RELATED: ‘Florida Is Going To Kill All Of Us’: Sunny Hostin Blasts Ron DeSantis After Super Bowl Partiers Ditch Masks)
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the proposal “a political attack” on Thursday.