Senator Marco Rubio (Republican - Florida) says that Vatican City has a right to control its borders and so does the United States.
The comment came in response to Pope Francis' suggestion Thursday that an American politician who wants to build a border wall is not a Christian. Donald Trump, a leading U.S. Republican presidential candidate, has said that if elected, he will build a wall along the Mexican border from Texas to California and expel 11 million people who are in the country illegally. Trump immediately fired back, saying it is disgraceful for a religious leader to question a person's faith.
Rubio previously favored a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally, but now says border security - including expanding the Mexican border wall - is the priority.
Rubio addressed the issue during a press conference in Anderson, South Carolina Thursday afternoon.
"Vatican City controls who comes in when they come in and how they come in as a city state, and as a result the United States has a right to do that as well," he said.
Rubio, a Catholic, says he has "tremendous respect and admiration" for the Pope. He says, "There's no nation on earth that's more compassion on immigration than we are."