‘They’re Not Going To Sucker Donald Trump’: Rubio Crystal Clear On Venezuela, Immigration

Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid out the crisis at America’s southern border and the growing danger emanating from Venezuela during a candid exchange with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday night.

Rubio blasted Venezuelan socialist President Nicolás Maduro’s regime, calling it a failing dictatorship that is funneling chaos toward the United States. The secretary of State said that Maduro “suckered Joe Biden,” but added, “They’re not going to sucker Donald Trump.”

Rubio noted that more than eight million Venezuelans have fled the country, overwhelming neighbors and adding to the migrant flow reaching America’s doorstep. But he stressed that the conversation can’t stop at humanitarian collapse. The sharper danger, he argued, is the Iranian foothold inside Venezuela, a reality the media rarely touches. He explained that Iran’s IRGC — and even Hezbollah — have entrenched themselves in South America, with Venezuela serving as one of their “anchor” sanctuaries.

Rubio also discussed the unavoidable limits of vetting migrants with a level of sobriety absent from most political rhetoric.

“You can only vet information that exists,” he said. “So it is possible that in many cases, there are things about these people that you just don’t know, and no matter how much you vet them, you just don’t have certain information.”

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Rubio explained that in many corners of the world — especially countries overrun by terrorists or lacking functioning institutions — documentation is nonexistent or impossible to verify. He warned that someone with no extremist record could be pulled into ideology once inside the United States, particularly if they struggle to assimilate or are vulnerable to propaganda in their native language. The Afghan national who allegedly shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., last week — killing one and wounding the other — was “radicalized” through connections he maintained in Afghanistan after coming to the United States, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“The bottom line is there is no effective way to allow hundreds of thousands of people to enter any country in the world and not face consequences,” Rubio added.

Turning back to Venezuela, Rubio said the Biden administration made a major mistake by believing that Maduro could be negotiated into good behavior.

“The Biden administration made a deal with Maduro. No one talks about this,” Rubio told Hannity. “He made a deal with Maduro. Here was the deal: Maduro asked that his nephews – convicted drug traffickers – be released from U.S. prisons. He asked that his chief money launderer, his money man, his bag man, be released from U.S. custody before he stood trial. In exchange he promised to hold free and fair elections. He got the nephews back, the drug dealers. He got the bag man back. And he never did the free and fair elections.”